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Oak Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park

Monday, October 21, 2024

After spending a great day on Chapin Mesa in Mesa Verde National Park last year, I kept an eye on all of the backcountry tours offered this summer to see if the park would have anything new we hadn’t seen yet. I was about to give up hope when late in the season they started offering a tour to Oak Tree House that was only available from Friday through Monday for a few weeks at the very end of the season. The only date we were available to go was going to be on the very last tour of the season which happened to line up perfectly with our drive home from a weekend visiting the ruins and rock art at Wupatki National Monument and Mystery Valley in northern Arizona. Luckily, I was able to secure two tickets for this tour and we were able to spend a couple hours on Monday morning visiting these interesting ruins in Fewkes Canyon. It was certainly a great place to finish up our three-day weekend in the Four Corners region!

Rambling Around Robbers Roost VI

Friday & Saturday, October 11-12, 2024

After spending a very warm week along the Arizona Strip with Jared, it was time for me to get back out exploring parts of the Colorado Plateau that are a little bit closer to home. So even though I needed to be home on Sunday, I still wanted to get outside on Saturday and decided to head over into the Robbers Roost area to get in a little canyon hiking and exploring this weekend. I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed dinner in town and then headed west into Utah. After topping off my gas tank in Green River I continued driving across the San Rafael Desert until I found a place to camp not far from Hans Flats shortly before sunset. Once it was dark out I finished reading a book and went to bed early so I could get an early start in the morning to beat the afternoon heat.

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Fiftymile Point to Davis Gulch & The Hole-in-the-Rock

Fiftymile Point to Davis Gulch & The Hole-in-the-Rock

Canyons of the Escalante | Southern Utah Wanderings
Wednesday – Friday, October 5-7, 2022

After spending the last day and a half along the western end of the Vermilion Cliffs we headed back over the Paunsaugunt Plateau and returned to Escalante early on Wednesday afternoon. While we were in town we grabbed some dinner and topped off our fuel tanks before heading southeast down the Hole-in-the-Rock Road below the Straight Cliffs. Surprisingly, the road was in better condition than we were expecting and we made great time to the Davis Gulch Trailhead located just below Fiftymile Point. We still had plenty of time until sunset, so we decided to continue on to the very end of the road so we could maybe hike down the Hole-in-the-Rock to Lake Powell. I hadn’t been out to the end of the Hole-in-the-Rock Road since 2009, so it was nice to refresh my memory of the area.

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The Chaco Phenomenon of the San Juan Basin

Tour of the Ancients: Chimney Rock National Monument, Twin Angels Pueblo & Lowry Pueblo
Thursday & Friday, May 20-21, 2021

After leaving El Malpais National Monument in the early afternoon on Thursday, we then drove north across the San Juan Basin on our way to Durango. There was a storm system moving into the area this evening and it was supposed to rain overnight and throughout the day on Friday, so we thought it would be best to get a hotel room in town tonight. On our way we made a short detour to visit the Twin Angels Pueblo, which is a Chacoan Great House located at the edge of Kutz Canyon, not far from Angel Peak. We were planning to visit Chimney Rock National Monument on Friday and had already visited the Dittert Site in the El Malpais National Conservation Area earlier in the week, so I thought it would be nice to visit yet another Chaco Outlier this week.

Lower Hackberry Canyon to the Watson Cabin

Canyons of the Paria | Southern Utah Wanderings
Thursday & Friday, October 8-9, 2020

After spending all day Thursday hiking along the Paria River to Starlight Canyon and back, we returned to the east side of The Cockscomb and found a nice spot to spend the night just north of the Lower Hackberry Trailhead under some cottonwood trees along Cottonwood Creek. Our plan for Friday was to take it a little easier and hike up Hackberry Canyon a few miles, so we wanted to camp nearby. On Friday morning we slept in a little later and woke up with the sunrise again. We packed up camp and then drove back over to the trailhead so we could start our hike.

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Tag: metate

Oak Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park

Rambling Around Robbers Roost VI

Fiftymile Point to Davis Gulch & The Hole-in-the-Rock

The Chaco Phenomenon of the San Juan Basin

Lower Hackberry Canyon to the Watson Cabin