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Tag: middle mesa

Crack-In-Rock Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument

Saturday, April 12, 2025

After the huge disappointment of not being able to hike to the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo in the backcountry at Wupatki National Monument last October because of wet weather, earlier this year I was lucky enough to get us signed up again for the spring hike that was scheduled for this Saturday. The timing couldn’t have worked out much better for us since we would already be hiking out of the Grand Canyon at the end of our rafting trip on Wednesday and would just need to stick around Flagstaff for a couple extra days. After spending Thursday and Friday around Flagstaff, we were up early on Saturday morning and made our way over to the Visitor Center at Wupatki National Monument before 9:00am where we met up with the Rangers and the rest of the small group that would be going on the hike. After a brief orientation we all hopped into the three vehicles that took us to the starting point for the hike via bumpy backroads surrounding the park.

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Wupatki National Monument & Sunset Crater Volcano

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Well, this extended weekend trip that I planned for Diane and myself certainly did not start off on the right foot! The initial plans for this three-day weekend started to come together back in early September when I was finally able to sign us up for a Ranger-Led hike to the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument. I’ve been trying to get on one of these hikes for many years without any luck, so I was very excited to finally get on the list this year. Unfortunately, the first winter storm of the season would have other plans for us as it impacted the Colorado Plateau just before our scheduled hike. Although I had been watching the weather closely the day before our hike and it appeared that the storm mostly missed the Wupatki area, when we were near Cameron on Saturday morning and just less than an hour away from Wupatki we both received the following message from the Ranger in charge of the hike:

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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!

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