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Sandstone Sojourn: Ladder Canyon & Milagro Passage

Canyons of the Escalante | Tuesday, October 13, 2026

We woke up on Tuesday morning with high hopes of driving down towards the far end of the Hole-in-the-Rock Road, but then we checked the latest weather forecast and saw that there was yet another full day of rain in store for us, so we made the reluctant decision to stay closer to town for one more day. All this rain was really beginning to put a damper on our trip and I was getting anxious to get back to our regularly scheduled program! The weather for the rest of the week was looking dry, so we were pretty sure that we would be heading out first thing on Wednesday morning. Until then we needed to find another hike for today. We wanted to do something a little longer this time, so we went on another sandstone sojourn- this time from the end of the Old Sheffield Road to the Escalante River following the rim of Spencer Canyon to Ladder Canyon. Then we were thinking about hiking up and through the Milagro Passage, depending on how our legs were feeling by then…

Ferry Swale to Wiregrass Canyon and the White Rocks

Friday – Saturday, May 8-9, 2026

After spending the previous week at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs and Grand Staircase in Kanab, I left right after the conference wrapped up on Friday afternoon and drove east to Page where I grabbed an early dinner in town. Then I topped off my gas tank and then headed west again to explore a few roads in the Ferry Swale as I made my way over to the trailhead for Wiregrass Canyon in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area so I could go on a short evening hike when the temperature started to cool down. Initially, I drove into the Ferry Swale because I was thinking about either hiking to the Thousand Pockets or Dominguez Pass, but it was just too hot for me to want to do any open desert hiking this afternoon, so instead I just kept driving until the road ended at the Lees Ferry Overlook above Paria Canyon and I took in the views from there.

The Ribbon Trail to the Tabeguache Trail

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Although I was initially hoping to get more hiking in this weekend, I wasn’t feeling very well on Friday evening and decided to stay home to get some long overdue work done to my 4Runner on Saturday instead. Then on Sunday morning I thought I was feeling better, so Diane and I headed out early to hike the Ribbon Trail from the top to the bottom and finish up by following Andy’s Loop to the Tabeguache Trailhead. We chose this hike to get in as much elevation descent as we could near home to help us prepare for a hike into the Grand Canyon via the Bright Angel Trail that’s coming up in just over a week. It’s been a while since I last hiked the Ribbon Trail and usually I hike up to Little Park Road at the end, so this was a nice change of pace.

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Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country IV | Saturday – Monday, January 17-19, 2026

While I was originally hoping to take Diane out to the Pahranagat Valley over this extended holiday weekend, we found ourselves needing to stay closer to home for the time being, but I still wanted to go somewhere where Diane would be able to join me. She has recently started Radiation Therapy and is still not allowed to do much hiking, but after a little bit of thought I figured we could return to Comb Ridge and the surrounding country to go on some shorter and easier hikes in the area. This would also give us the opportunity to return to the Bluff International Balloon Festival since we haven’t been back to the event since 2014, which was shortly after we first started dating and I believe it was also our very first weekend trip away together! These are some photos of what we saw this weekend.

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Return to Bryce Canyon National Park & Red Canyon

Edges of the Paunsaugunt Plateau | Saturday – Tuesday, November 8-11, 2025

Earlier in the year, well before she even knew she had a meningioma and would need brain surgery in October, Diane told me that she wanted to go to Bryce Canyon National Park sometime this year because she had never been there before and it was the only National Park in Utah that she hadn’t been to yet, so I planned a trip for us to visit the park over the Veterans Day holiday and weekend in early November. Of course, after her surgery in early October and the rough recovery afterwards, I wasn’t sure if we were still going to be able to go on this trip, but as the dates got closer and she continued to slowly get better every day and was no longer under any restrictions, we decided to still go, even if she would only able to visit the overlooks from the rim. Although I had initially planned to go on some longer hikes when I started making plans for this trip earlier in the year, I had no problems toning down those plans so we could experience the park together now. I thought this extended weekend might be a nice getaway for Diane who has spend most of the last month either in the hospital or at home.