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Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 16

Wednesday – Sunday, March 18-22, 2026

This year Dave, Jared and I decided to take it easier during our annual Spring Trip and eschewed our typical longer backpacking trip for car-camping and day-hiking on Cedar Mesa since we were worried about finding water in the canyons after the very dry winter the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains have experienced. This turned out to be a good decision for us since much of the Southwest was experiencing an unprecedented heat wave during the same time, and to be honest, I would not have been up for carrying a heavy pack in this heat. Because of the very warm temperatures we didn’t hike as much as we normally would and ended up spending more time relaxing and resting in the shade at camp in the afternoons. I did get a lot of reading in! These are some photos of what we saw over our four days in Bears Ears National Monument.

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Sandstone Spine: Canyons of Comb Ridge

Friday – Sunday, March 13-15, 2026

Since Diane finished up her Radiation Therapy just about two weeks ago, we decided to get out on her first camping trip since she had surgery back at the beginning of October. We chose to spend the weekend mostly around Comb Ridge in Bears Ears National Monument so we could keep the hikes shorter and a bit easier for Diane if we needed to, but she really needed to get in some mileage and elevation during these hikes to help her get back into the swing of things since she is supposed to be hiking down into the Grand Canyon with me in just under a month. At the last minute I ended up taking off from work on Friday so we could have a little more time in the outdoors together and we left home on Friday morning and headed down to Comb Wash where we found a nice campsite for the rest of the weekend. These are some photos from our weekend around the Sandstone Spine.

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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.

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Below the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2025

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 15 | Thursday – Sunday, November 27-30, 2025

Back before Diane even knew she had a meningioma and would be having surgery in October we were hoping to return to the Dinétah in New Mexico this Thanksgiving, but with everything going on lately we switched gears and decided to return to the Bears Ears region instead since it’s a bit closer to home and a more important place to us. Up until about two weeks ago Diane was still planning to join me this holiday weekend and we were planning to stick to easier hikes like we had done at Bryce Canyon National Park earlier this month, but unfortunately she has had some setbacks with her recovery and is not allowed to do any hiking right now, so she would be spending Thanksgiving with a friend while I spent the extended holiday weekend below the Bears Ears on my own since I was really feeling the pull to get back down there one last time before the year was over. I’m really hoping that Diane will be able to get over these setbacks and can get back out hiking again soon.

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From The Maze to The Mesa, Again…

Friday – Sunday, March 28-30, 2025

This weekend I met up with my friend Alan who was once again visiting the southwest from France for a couple of weeks this spring. Late last year while he was starting to plan out his trip we had made rough plans to hike together to a Barrier Canyon Style pictograph panel that is found in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, so that’s where we ended up starting our weekend off when we met up at a campsite late on Friday afternoon. After our rough drive and hike to the pictographs on Saturday morning we then made our way over to Cedar Mesa so we could explore a few sites before I headed home early on Sunday as I needed to finish getting prepared for an upcoming river trip into the Grand Canyon. Since this trip was a little reminiscent of my previous week spent exploring The Maze and The Mesa in 2011, I thought I would borrow the title again. Here are a few photos from the weekend.

Tag: cedar mesa

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 16

Sandstone Spine: Canyons of Comb Ridge

Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears

Below the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2025

From The Maze to The Mesa, Again…