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Rock Art of Nine Mile Canyon 2025Nine Mile Canyon 2025

Rock Art of Nine Mile Canyon 2025

Saturday & Sunday, February 8-9, 2025

Although we were hoping to make it back into Nine Mile Canyon late last year, that never ended up happening so I figured it would be nice to get back into the canyon early this year and made plans for a weekend visit just a couple of days before my birthday. At least we didn’t wait another five years to return like the last time! Even though the week leading up to this trip had been unseasonably warm across the Colorado Plateau, a cold front had finally passed through the region on Friday night and dropped temperatures back to normal for this time of the year, and we saw early morning temperatures get down into the teens and single digits, but daytime temperatures were comfortable in the 40’s. Diane and I left home early on Saturday morning and then we spent most of the weekend searching for new petroglyphs in Nine Mile Canyon while also stopping to revisit sites we’ve been to before along the way. Here are some photos from our weekend exploring the world’s longest art gallery.

CONTINUE READINGRock Art of Nine Mile Canyon 2025
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Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country IIIBorderlands of the Bears Ears Country III

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.

CONTINUE READINGBorderlands of the Bears Ears Country III
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Below the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2024Below the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2024

Below the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2024

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 13 | Thursday – Sunday, November 28 – December 1, 2024

This year for the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend Diane and I returned to the landscape surrounding the Bears Ears and spent all four days wandering a selection of canyons and rims carved into Cedar Mesa and beyond. Our time was split between searching for new sites and revisiting sites that I hadn’t been back to in over a decade but were mostly new to Diane. We saw quite a bit more rock art this time around with only a few ruins scattered throughout our hikes. In the end we had another great weekend exploring one of our favorite places together and look forward to returning again and again. These are some photos of what we saw.

CONTINUE READINGBelow the Bears Ears: Thanksgiving Weekend 2024
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The High Plateaus of Utah: Northern TrekThe High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek

The High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek

The Plateau Provence: Peaks & Plateaus of the Colorado Plateau, Part III
Friday – Sunday, July 19-21, 2024

After spending two weekends exploring the High Plateaus of Utah last summer, I have been looking forward to getting back out into that high country again this year and thought this weekend would be a good time to do so. This time I decided to head up into the northern region of the High Plateaus and planned to start at the edge of the Tavaputs Plateau before making my way westward to the Gunnison Plateau (San Pitch Mountains) while driving some of the backroads in the area and visiting a couple new highpoints along the way. My timing for this trip couldn’t have been much better since the weather forecast was predicting very wet and stormy weather throughout the mountains of Colorado the entire weekend, while it seemed that Central Utah was going to be staying mostly dry, aside from the typical afternoon thunderstorms. Just like last year, I had a great time exploring this region and am hoping to get down to the Southern Plateaus later in the summer.

CONTINUE READINGThe High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek
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Little Book Cliffs: Main Canyon to Cottonwood CanyonLittle Book Cliffs: Main Canyon to Cottonwood Canyon

Little Book Cliffs: Main Canyon to Cottonwood Canyon

Labor Day Weekend | Sunday, September 3, 2023

Last week, after cutting my trip into the High Plateaus of Utah short, I came home on Friday with the intention of heading up into the San Juan Mountains over the weekend, but instead I ended up being lazy and staying home all day Saturday. I didn’t want to stay at home the entire weekend, so on Sunday morning I got up early and headed over to the Little Book Cliffs so I could hike up Main Canyon to it’s junction with Cottonwood Canyon. I had hiked a couple miles up Main Canyon back in 2016, but was turned around by thunderstorms that evening, so I was looking forward to finishing up the rest of the trail this time.

CONTINUE READINGLittle Book Cliffs: Main Canyon to Cottonwood Canyon
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