bluff // ADVENTR.co

Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country IV | Saturday – Monday, January 17-19, 2026

While I was originally hoping to take Diane out to the Pahranagat Valley over this extended holiday weekend, we found ourselves needing to stay closer to home for the time being, but I still wanted to go somewhere where Diane would be able to join me. She has recently started Radiation Therapy and is still not allowed to do much hiking, but after a little bit of thought I figured we could return to Comb Ridge and the surrounding country to go on some shorter and easier hikes in the area. This would also give us the opportunity to return to the Bluff International Balloon Festival since we haven’t been back to the event since 2014, which was shortly after we first started dating and I believe it was also our very first weekend trip away together! These are some photos of what we saw this weekend.

San Juan River: Sand Island to Mexican Hat

Thursday – Sunday, September 18-21, 2025 | High CFS: 622 – Low CFS: 524

Although I certainly enjoy the early season spring-runoff river trips of summer, I think my favorite time to get out onto a desert river is during low-water at the end of the season in September. I guess I just enjoy the cooler temperatures, relaxing pace, minimal bugs and sandy campsites that are common at this time of the year. So when I realized earlier in the year that I had not been back on the San Juan River since 2019, I knew I wanted to get back on it during September since all of our previous trips have been in May and June. Jackson was also interested in a late season trip and managed to get us a permit for three days on the stretch from Sand Island to Mexican Hat. We were all set to finally float the San Juan River in September and I was looking forward to my final river trip of 2025!

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country III

Saturday & Sunday, January 25-26, 2025

Even though Diane had just returned home on Wednesday after spending a week-and-a-half in Hawaii at a conference for work and hadn’t even finished unpacking from the trip, she was ready to join me in the much colder temperatures of southern Utah this weekend so we could explore the canyons found around the edges of the Bears Ears National Monument together. We left home early on Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the weekend wandering through some canyons along the Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country in search of ruins and rock art. These are just some photos of what we saw.

1 Comment

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country

Saturday & Sunday, April 27-28, 2024

This weekend Diane and I headed down to the edges of Bears Ears National Monument so we could hike and search for rock art and ruins in some of the canyons along the borderlands of the monument. We were originally planning to leave after work on Friday, but rain was predicted for the area overnight and into the early morning, so instead we decided to leave early on Saturday morning and timed it so we would arrive after the weather was supposed to be over leaving cooler temperatures and partly cloudy skies behind. Our timing worked out perfectly! Although we would see a lot of interesting and unusual rock art this weekend, much of it was hard to see and photograph, so I’ll just share some of the better photos below.

2 Comments

Back on the Sandstone Spine: Comb Ridge

Friday – Sunday, February 24-26, 2023

After unsuccessfully trying to get on the Comb Ridge twice this year already, I almost gave up a third time this weekend as yet another winter storm system moved through the area during the week. However, later in the week I decided to take my chances and head down that way anyway. I had some alternate plans, just in case. I’m glad I ended up going since conditions on Saturday were very nice with dry roads and the high temperature reaching sixty degrees. It was lovely spring-like weather and I was glad to be out exploring the Bears Ears region once again! Of course, then conditions quickly changed again on Sunday morning- but more on that later…

4 Comments

Tag: bluff

Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears

San Juan River: Sand Island to Mexican Hat

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country III

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country

Back on the Sandstone Spine: Comb Ridge