2016 // ADVENTR.co

Rifle Arch

Saturday, December 3, 2016

To be honest, our goal for the day was not really to hike to Rifle Arch. Recently, I had learned about a pizza place in New Castle called Hogback Pizza that was supposed to have a good Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza. Since I left the Chicago area I have not been able to find a good stuffed pizza in Colorado and I wanted to see just how good theirs really was. (It turned out to be the best stuffed pizza I have found outside of the Chicago area.) However, I did not want to drive to New Castle just to try some pizza, so I figured we’d find a short hike we could do on our way there and we settled on hiking to Rifle Arch. It was a short 3 mile round-trip hike to the arch but it was much colder outside than we expected it to be and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. Even though the sky was overcast and I wasn’t able to get any decent photos, it still was a large and impressive arch. I will definitely have to return another day with better photographic conditions.

Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

Sunday, November 27, 2016

After spending the last four days based out of Farmington, New Mexico for the long Thanksgiving Weekend, it was finally time to head back home and get ready to go back to work on Monday morning. But before we left the area, we would spend a few hours hiking in Crow Canyon (Cañon Cuervo) and exploring the extraordinary petroglyphs found there. According to the BLM, Crow Canyon contains the most extensive and well-known collection of 16th – 18th century Navajo petroglyphs in the southwest.

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Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Saturday, November 26, 2016

I’ve wanted to visit Canyon de Chelly National Monument for many years but it never seems to work out for me. In the past I have taken multiple trips where I’ve passed near Canyon de Chelly and hoped to have had time to stop for a visit, but things never worked out and I still haven’t made it there. Even though it was a bit of a drive from Farmington, I decided it was finally time to make it over there on this trip, even if it was only to visit the overlooks from the rim and hike down to the White House Ruins this time (the only trail down into the canyon you can hike without paying for a guide). I will have to return for another visit to spend some time in the canyons with a guide.

Black Friday in Chaco Canyon

Black Friday | Friday, November 25, 2016

After a great day exploring the Bisti Badlands, Diane and I would be spending Black Friday checking out the massive ruins at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s been over 5 years since my last visit to Chaco Canyon and I was looking forward to returning. Diane had never been here before and she had a great time seeing all of the impressive ruins for the very first time. Besides visiting all of the easy-to-access ruins along the loop road, we would also hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which is one of the few trails I had not hiked in the park yet. We spent all day in the park and had a really great time!

Thanksgiving in the Bisti Badlands

Thanksgiving Day | Wednesday – Thursday, November 23-24, 2016

Typically, we like to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend exploring Cedar Mesa and the surrounding areas, but this year we decided to attend a concert on Wednesday evening and then spend the rest of the long weekend hiking and exploring northwestern New Mexico based out of Farmington. We left home early on Wednesday morning and drove over Red Mountain Pass (with an obligatory stop at Mouse’s in Ouray) on our way to New Mexico. After crossing the state line we made a slight detour to visit a nice arch before finishing the drive to Farmington.

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Tag: 2016

Rifle Arch

Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Black Friday in Chaco Canyon

Thanksgiving in the Bisti Badlands