basketmaker // ADVENTR.co

Veterans Day Weekend at Natural Bridges

November Cedar Mesa & Comb Ridge Trip 2011
Friday & Saturday, November 11-12, 2011

Right after an awesome three day weekend in Northern Arizona I was headed down to Cedar Mesa with my friend Jackson for another long weekend over Veterans Day weekend. Our destination and goal for this trip was to explore Natural Bridges National Monument for two days. I had been to the park once before, but at that time we only stayed up on the canyon rim and viewed the bridges from their respective overlooks. This trip we were planning on descending down into White Canyon so that we could begin to explore the area for the abundent ruins and rock art found within the park. This was just the first of many trips I plan to spend exploring the area!

Snake Gulch: Rock Art of the Kanab Plateau

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 7
Friday, October 7, 2011

After a cold night of camping near the trailhead for Snake Gulch we woke up shortly after the sun began to rise. We had some breakfast and then set off into the canyon. Our hike turned out to be a long one at about 14.5 miles round trip, but it was mostly level without much elevation gain so it was pretty easy. Despite the cold night, the sun warmed things up nicely during the day for some very pleasant hiking weather. We ended up spending all day in the canyon between hiking, searching for rock art and taking a lot of photos! It was amazing just how many pictographs were in this canyon, and I’m sure we could have found many more if we had more time. Most of the pictographs in this canyon are attributed to the Basketmaker people from about 300 BC to 800 AD.

Lower Butler Wash and More…

Memorial Day Weekend
Sunday, May 29, 2011

After a very windy night, I was up early and on my way south down the Comb Wash Road. I crossed through the Comb on US 163 and drove to the trailhead for Lower Butler Wash. I descended down the old wagon road on foot and made my way towards the San Juan River through the thick vegetation. Once I neared the river, I started to come across some rock art.

2 Comments

Montezuma Canyon Rock Art & Ruins

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Another weekend on my own, so I decided to spend some time really exploring Montezuma Canyon for rock art and ruins. I have driven through the canyon before, but that was during a rainstorm in 2008 and I missed a lot on that trip. This time I started at the south end near the old Hatch Trading Post and ended up going about 15-20 miles up the canyon before turning back around. I only knew the locations of a few rock art panels and ruins, but I managed to find quite a lot on my own. I’m sure I missed many others, so I know I’ll be heading back there again in the future.

2 Comments

Long Fingers Canyon

The Maze and the Mesa | Day 9
Sunday, April 17, 2011

The last day of our 9 day trip had finally arrived and I was looking forward to getting home and taking a real shower. We wanted to make this a shorter day so that we wouldn’t be getting home too late. We broke down camp, had a quick breakfast and then we crossed over Comb Ridge and headed south along Butler Wash. Then we hiked into Long Fingers Canyon and explored all of the alcoves, ruins and rock art that we could find. It was a nice and easy hike with a lot to see and explore. It’s amazing how many large alcoves this short canyon contains!

1 Comment

Tag: basketmaker

Veterans Day Weekend at Natural Bridges

Snake Gulch: Rock Art of the Kanab Plateau

Lower Butler Wash and More…

Montezuma Canyon Rock Art & Ruins

Long Fingers Canyon