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Tag: monticello

Step Canyon & Pine Canyon Loop

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

On Wednesday morning Jared and I woke up with the sun, broke down camp and then hopped into my Jeep so we could drive a little further down the Mormon Trail to begin our hike. Today we would be hiking a loop starting in Step Canyon and following it down to the confluence with Pine Canyon which we then planned to hike up to complete the loop. Hiking down through Step Canyon was pretty easy with only a few obstacles that we had to get around, but as soon as we reached Pine Canyon we found that much of the canyon bottom was either full of water or slick mud and in order to get around those sections we had to deal with bushwhacking through thick vegetation. I’m sure if the canyon were dry it would have been an easy hike, but it was not too much fun today.

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Thanksgiving Weekend with The Ancients

Friday – Sunday, November 27-29, 2015

This year Diane and I spent Black Friday and rest of the Thanksgiving Weekend hiking and searching for ancient ruins and rock art in southeast Utah. Instead of camping at Natural Bridges National Monument like we did last year, this time we based out of a hotel in Blanding. I think it was a good decision since temperatures were a bit colder than I would have preferred, although we were lucky enough not to get any snow over the weekend like they did back home in Grand Junction. We ended up spending time in Montezuma Canyon, Cedar Mesa and along Comb Ridge throughout the weekend. We got to explore new areas and find a few new sites, plus we also revisited some old ones. It was a nice holiday weekend.

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Coyote Buttes North & Willis Creek

Friday – Monday, November 8-11, 2013

Last November I said that I was going to be taking a little break from visiting the Paria Plateau, and I have. However, almost exactly a year later I was ready to go back for another visit and managed to get another permit for Coyote Buttes North. I was only able to get one permit this time around, so it was a good weekend for me to take a solo trip. If I had to choose a month, I think November is probably my favorite time of the year to visit this area. This is the third year in a row that I have visited Coyote Buttes North in November and it seems like I usually have good conditions this time of the year. Even though this was the first year that I had clear blue skies all day with no dynamic weather, I still managed to come back home with many new images. Feel free to check out my previous November trip reports from 2011 and 2012.

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