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Tag: junction ruins

Rock Art of Canyon del Muerto & Chinle WashRock Art of Canyon del Muerto & Chinle Wash

Rock Art of Canyon del Muerto & Chinle Wash

A Return to Canyon de Chelly National Monument: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Monday, May 23, 2022

After spending most of Sunday in Mesa Verde National Park it was time to spend some quality time looking at rock art and ruins in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. About six years ago Diane and I had stopped to check out all of the overlooks along the rim of the canyons in the Monument and also hiked down to the White House Ruins, so this time we wanted to get into the canyons for a closer look. That meant we would have to book a tour with a Navajo guide. About a week before the trip I set up a five hour tour with Beauty Way Jeep Tours for 8:00am that would mostly focus on Canyon del Muerto and we were looking forward to finally getting into the canyon!

CONTINUE READINGRock Art of Canyon del Muerto & Chinle Wash
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Grand Gulch: Kane Gulch to Bullet CanyonGrand Gulch: Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon

Grand Gulch: Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 4
Wednesday – Sunday, March 31 – April 4, 2021

Last spring Jared, Dave and I had made plans and obtained a permit to backpack on the Navajo Nation for the first time, but because the pandemic shut a lot of things down at the time, we were forced to cancel those plans. Since the Navajo Nation was still closed to visitors this spring we had to find something else to do for our annual spring backpacking trip this year. After discussing a number of different options over the winter, we finally settled on backpacking the popular loop through Grand Gulch from Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon. Dave and I have both hiked this stretch of the canyon before, but Jared had not, and it was the last section of Grand Gulch he had not been through yet, so we wanted to make sure he got a chance to see it before it got even busier and harder to get permits. Besides, even though Diane and I had hiked this loop back in 2015, I was sure we missed quite a bit and was looking forward to getting back and spending a little more time in this section!

CONTINUE READINGGrand Gulch: Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon
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Kane Gulch to Bullet CanyonKane Gulch to Bullet Canyon

Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon

Grand Gulch Loop
Friday – Saturday, May 1-3, 2015

After spending a few days in lower Grand Gulch last week, I went back home to work for four days before driving back down to Cedar Mesa to backpack the popular Kane Gulch to Bullet Canyon loop of Grand Gulch with Diane. This would be Diane’s first multi-night backpacking trip and she was looking forward to it. We left home late on Thursday evening after Diane got out of class and reached our campsite for the night at Coyote Flat around 10:00pm. We quickly setup camp in the dark and went to bed right away. Unfortunately, after a few hours Diane found out that her Thermarest sleeping pad was leaking and she didn’t sleep very well that night.

CONTINUE READINGKane Gulch to Bullet Canyon
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Kane GulchKane Gulch

Kane Gulch

Saturday, March 2, 2013

On Saturday morning I headed south for an early season hike in the Grand Gulch area. I stopped at the Kane Gulch Ranger Station as they opened for the day to pick up an annual Cedar Mesa hiking pass and then started hiking down Kane Gulch from there. There was still quite a bit of snow and ice in places, but nothing difficult. In the morning everything was frozen which made things a little easier, but on my way back in the afternoon everything had started melting and there was a lot more slippery mud on the trail in places. I first visited the Junction Ruins found at the confluence of Kane Gulch and Grand Gulch and then I continued down Grand Gulch a little further to the Turkey Pen Ruins.

CONTINUE READINGKane Gulch
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