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Thanksgiving Weekend Below the Bears EarsThanksgiving Weekend Below the Bears Ears

Thanksgiving Weekend Below the Bears Ears

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 8 | Thursday – Saturday, November 24-26, 2022

This year during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend Diane was able to get away from her clinical rotations for a little while and join me on our annual trip into the Bears Ears region. Our friend Jared was also able to meet us down there, so we all went out hiking in the canyons together. Although I had originally planned to spend all four days in the area, our cat Tellico (Rico) is having some health issues and we didn’t want to leave her home for that long, so we decided to cut the trip short by a day and come home on Saturday afternoon instead. The weather was great for hiking and we had a nice time exploring new parts of canyons we had been in before, plus we were able to revisit some other favorite places. Here are a couple photos from the weekend!

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Revisiting El Morro National MonumentRevisiting El Morro National Monument

Revisiting El Morro National Monument

Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Friday, May 27, 2022

After leaving the Zuni Pueblo we travelled just a little further east until we reached Inscription Rock at El Morro National Monument. Although we had stopped here just over two years ago, part of the trail was closed for the winter that day and many of the inscriptions were in poor light, so I wanted to return to finish hiking the complete loop and to hopefully get some better photos of the inscriptions along the way. Plus, we also needed to pick up a caving permit for El Malpais National Monument on Saturday, and we would be able to get one of those at the El Morro Visitor Center while we were there, saving us from a trip into Grants the following morning.

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Village of the Great Kivas at the Zuni PuebloVillage of the Great Kivas at the Zuni Pueblo

Village of the Great Kivas at the Zuni Pueblo

Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Friday, May 27, 2022

After leaving Lyman Lake State Park we drove through St. Johns as we headed further north and east until we entered New Mexico and the Zuni Pueblo. We stopped at the Zuni Visitor Center and arranged a guided tour to the Village of the Great Kivas, which is considered a Chacoan Outlier that features two Great Kivas and two separate room blocks that housed around 100 inhabitants. This site is also known for its impressive array of petroglyphs and pictographs and is one of the main archeological sites illustrating the development of Zuni culture. Once our guide arrived we hopped into the large white van and he drove us over to the site for our private tour.

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Wetherill Mesa at Mesa Verde National ParkWetherill Mesa at Mesa Verde National Park

Wetherill Mesa at Mesa Verde National Park

Sunday, May 22, 2022 | Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit

While making our original plans to Bandelier National Monument for this week, before they got cancelled, I had hoped that we would be able to stop by the Ute Mountain Tribal Park again on our way down to New Mexico. But even though we had to change those plans and stick around the Four Corners area, I was still hoping we would be able to go on another tour there. I spent the past two months trying to get ahold of someone at the park to schedule a tour, but was unsuccessful in getting anyone to call or email me back to make the arrangements, so I finally gave up on that idea. Instead, I decided that we were long overdue for another visit to Mesa Verde National Park and thought it would be a good idea to spend a full day on Wetherill Mesa since neither of us had been to that part of the park before. Thankfully, I was able to secure tickets to tours of Mug House and Long House in the weeks leading up to our trip, so we were all set for a great day on Wetherill Mesa!

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Bears Ears to Hovenweep and Canyons of the AncientsBears Ears to Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients

Bears Ears to Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients

Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit | Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 6
Friday & Saturday, May 20-21, 2022

This upcoming week Diane was going to be out of school and was looking forward to getting away for her Spring Break, so for the past few months I had been planning a week-long trip for us to visit the Jemez Mountains and Bandelier National Monument near Santa Fe. Unfortunately, the large Cerro Pelado Wildfire ended up closing both Bandelier National Monument and the Santa Fe National Forest before our trip, so I was forced to come up with Alternate Plans for the week and decided to return to the Four Corners area. Hopefully we will be able to reschedule a trip to the Jemez Mountains another time in the future since we were both looking forward to it!

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