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Vermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand StaircaseVermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand Staircase

Vermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand Staircase

Kanab: Base Camp to Southern Utah | Rock Art of the Grand Staircase
Sunday – Thursday, May 3-7, 2026

After driving all the way across the Arizona Strip on Friday and spending the remainder of the weekend exploring the Sand Hills on top of the Paria Plateau, I drove back over the northern end of the Kaibab Plateau on Sunday afternoon and made my way down to Kanab at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs to spend the rest of the week attending the 2026 UGIC Conference for work. It’s been quite a while since I last spent much time in the landscape surrounding Kanab and there were quite a few rock art sites and other short hikes that I’ve wanted to check out, so I was planning to visit as many of these sites as I could during the week when I wasn’t busy at the conference. Luckily, I was able to find plenty of time for a few sandy drives and short hikes either before or after the conference each day and was able to find most of the sites that I was looking for this week, plus a couple extras along the way! These are just some photos from my week exploring the the cliffs at the base of the Grand Staircase.

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Ute Mountain Tribal Park: The Other Mesa VerdeUte Mountain Tribal Park: The Other Mesa Verde

Ute Mountain Tribal Park: The Other Mesa Verde

Friday & Saturday, May 14-15, 2021

After being constantly busy with school since January, Diane finally had a week off between semesters for a Spring Break and she was looking forward to getting away, so I planned a trip that would take us mostly to northern Arizona and New Mexico for the upcoming week. On our way down through the Four Corners area we would be spending our first day checking out the ruins and rock art at the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. The Tribal Park is found along the Mancos River and shares a boundary with Mesa Verde National Park. Thankfully that’s all it shares, since it doesn’t have the crowds, reconstructed ruins or the sterilized feeling of the popular National Park. A Ute guide is required to visit this park, so a few weeks before the trip I arranged for a private guide and a night in the campground along the Mancos River. Like many of the other trips I have done this spring, this was another one we had originally planned for last year, but which also got cancelled because of COVID-19.

CONTINUE READINGUte Mountain Tribal Park: The Other Mesa Verde
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