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Tag: badlands

Red River: Rock Art of the Palavayu

Thursday – Saturday, February 5-7, 2026

After spending a few relaxing days at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch, I hiked out and stayed at a hotel in Flagstaff for one night before continuing on east across the colorful Painted Desert so I could spend a few more days searching for rock art sites in the Palavayu, including Petrified Forest National Park, before returning home late on Saturday evening. Over the past six years since our first visit to the Petrified Forest, this area has quickly become one of my favorite places to explore and I look forward to my annual visit each year! I spent the better part of the next three days hiking and searching for new rock art sites, but I also ended up revisiting a few places that I had been to before to see what I had missed the first time. These are just some photos of what I saw this time…

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Aztec Ruins & Angel Peak

Saturday – Monday, July 28-30, 2018

This weekend Diane and I were heading down to Albuquerque to attend a concert on Sunday evening, so we decided to split the drive up into two days and spend a night in Bloomfield, New Mexico. This way we could visit some nearby ruins and maybe catch a nice sunset without spending all day sitting in the car. We left home early on Saturday morning and took the scenic route over Lizard Head Pass and through Rico and Dolores, arriving in Aztec in the early afternoon. It had been a while since I visited Aztec Ruins National Monument on one of my trips to Chaco Canyon and Diane had never been there before, so we started out with an easy hike through this small Monument that’s located right in the middle of town.

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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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Zabriskie Point to Badwater

Death Valley Trip 2013 | Day 3
Monday, February 11, 2013

My alarm woke me up a few hours before sunrise on Monday morning. I quickly got my camp loaded back in the Jeep and started the short drive over to the popular Zabriskie Point. As usual, I was the first to arrive with plenty of time to scout the location in the dark. I guess I should mention that it was my birthday. I had purposely planned this trip to coincide with my birthday, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.

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