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Riding on the Moon: The Wild Horse Trails

Goblin Valley State Park | Friday – Sunday, December 3-5, 2021

Last year we had such a great time riding all of the Intrepid Trails at Dead Horse State Park that this year we thought it was time to do the same thing at Goblin Valley State Park so we could ride all of the Wild Horse Trails. Back in August I booked the same yurt at Goblin Valley that we had stayed in almost two years ago for the first weekend in December and hoped that the weather would cooperate with our plans again this year. Of course, with the dry and mild winter we’ve been having this year it was no surprise that the weather was looking great for riding as the weekend finally approached. After I left work on Friday afternoon we loaded up our bikes and gear into the Jeep and drove over to Goblin Valley for the weekend!

Thanksgiving in the Land of Enchantment

Defensive Sites of Dinétah, Black Friday in Chaco Canyon II & Images of Dinétah
Thanksgiving Weekend | Thursday – Sunday, November 25-28, 2021

It feels like I’ve already spent a lot of time in the Land of Enchantment this year with visits to El Malpais National Monument, Mount Taylor and Wheeler Peak– so this seemed like the perfect year to skip our annual Thanksgiving visit to Cedar Mesa and head back to northwestern New Mexico instead. We actually did the same thing five years ago, so this wouldn’t be our first time spending Thanksgiving in La Tierra Del Encanto. We had originally planned to head to New Mexico last year for Thanksgiving, but the COVID restrictions at the time made us change our plans, so we were really looking forward to finally getting back this year! We left home early on Thursday morning and drove over Red Mountain Pass through the San Juan Mountains to Bloomfield, where we would be spending a couple of nights while we explored Dinétah and Chaco Culture National Historical Park for the next couple of days.

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The Labyrinth Rims: Horsethief Point to Tenmile Point

Friday – Sunday, November 19-21, 2021

I was originally planning to spend this weekend on Cedar Mesa by myself, but after my issue while hiking last Friday I was a bit uncertain about hiking alone this weekend. I decided it would probably be a better idea to take it easy and stay a little closer to home. I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous alone yet, so I figured I could go back to my roots by doing some exploring and short walks from my Jeep. There are a bunch of Jeep roads north of Moab in the Labyrinth Rims area that I have never driven before, so I thought that would be a good place to go. Since I didn’t plan this trip out like I usually do, I basically just hopped in my Jeep with a map and an idea of a couple areas I wanted to explore along the way and went. I thought I would start the trip at the rim of Taylor Canyon on Horsethief Point and then make my way north along the eastern points of Labyrinth Canyon.

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Blue Mountain Shadows: Beef Basin to Cedar Mesa

Southern Utah Wanderings | Friday – Friday, October 1-8, 2021

This year for our annual week-long trek into Southern Utah, Jared and I started out in the Beef Basin area and then we explored our way over to Cedar Mesa. It has been a while since either of us had spent much time around Beef Basin and I was also really hoping that we would be able to spend some quality time around the Dark Canyon Plateau and Elk Ridge areas along the way. The trip started out great and we found plenty of new rock art and ruin sites, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us on the second half of this trip and we had to change our plans multiple times because of storms and slick muddy roads. At one point we even stopped to help winch a truck back onto the road that was sliding off. One of the unexpected benefits of the poor weather was that it chased us closer to the Abajo Mountains than we were originally planning to go, and they were in peak falls colors at the time! At the end of the week we found out that President Biden was restoring the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, which was fitting since we were sitting in camp within the newly restored boundary. I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of this trip, so please enjoy plenty of photos from our journey below.

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Cedar Breaks: Ashdown Gorge & Rattlesnake Creek

Ashdown Gorge Wilderness & Cedar Breaks National Monument
Friday – Sunday, June 4-6, 2021

After spending last weekend wandering around the Book Cliffs, it was time to head back into Utah for one more trip before I start spending most of my time in the mountains of Colorado. It was supposed to be another hot and windy weekend across the Colorado Plateau, so I thought this would be a good time to finally hike through Ashdown Gorge near Cedar City. This hike has been on my to-do list for over ten years now, so it was time to finally do it! Last year I had tentatively planned an overnight backpacking trip through Ashdown Gorge in the early summer with Diane and Jared, but thanks again to COVID-19, those plans were cancelled. Since Diane is now too busy with school, it would just be me and Jared going, and since the hike is not too long and mostly downhill we decided to skip the backpacking this time around and just do it as a day hike.

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Tag: arches

Riding on the Moon: The Wild Horse Trails

Thanksgiving in the Land of Enchantment

The Labyrinth Rims: Horsethief Point to Tenmile Point

Blue Mountain Shadows: Beef Basin to Cedar Mesa

Cedar Breaks: Ashdown Gorge & Rattlesnake Creek