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Black Friday in Chaco Canyon

Black Friday | Friday, November 25, 2016

After a great day exploring the Bisti Badlands, Diane and I would be spending Black Friday checking out the massive ruins at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s been over 5 years since my last visit to Chaco Canyon and I was looking forward to returning. Diane had never been here before and she had a great time seeing all of the impressive ruins for the very first time. Besides visiting all of the easy-to-access ruins along the loop road, we would also hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which is one of the few trails I had not hiked in the park yet. We spent all day in the park and had a really great time!

Thanksgiving in the Bisti Badlands

Thanksgiving Day | Wednesday – Thursday, November 23-24, 2016

Typically, we like to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend exploring Cedar Mesa and the surrounding areas, but this year we decided to attend a concert on Wednesday evening and then spend the rest of the long weekend hiking and exploring northwestern New Mexico based out of Farmington. We left home early on Wednesday morning and drove over Red Mountain Pass (with an obligatory stop at Mouse’s in Ouray) on our way to New Mexico. After crossing the state line we made a slight detour to visit a nice arch before finishing the drive to Farmington.

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Annular Solar Eclipse & The Paria Plateau

Friday – Sunday, May 18-20, 2012

A few months back I managed to get another pair of permits to the Coyote Buttes North area so that Amanda and I could visit The Wave again and explore a few new areas. It turns out that I had picked a great weekend to go without originally realizing it. Our permits were for Saturday May 19th and it just so happens that the Annular Solar Eclipse was going to be happening on Sunday the 20th and some of the best views of this event would be down in the same area. It couldn’t have worked out better! We would visit Coyote Buttes North on Saturday and then stick around for the Solar Eclipse on Sunday with a little extra time to check out Wire Pass.

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Long Weekend in Chaco Canyon | Sunday

Sunday, June 12, 2011

On Sunday morning I slept in just a little bit later than on Saturday. It was not because I wanted to, but because I was planning on photographing through the doorways of Pueblo Bonito during the early morning light. The park would not be opening the gates until 7:00am, so there was no use in getting up earlier than I had to. I arrived at the locked gate to the park a few minutes before 7:00am in hopes that it would be opened early; it wasn’t. Someone didn’t come to open the gate until about ten minutes after 7, which means I was sitting in my Jeep anxiously waiting the whole time. Once the gate was finally open, I drove straight to Pueblo Bonito and hiked to the doorways so that I could start shooting. I didn’t have much time before the sun would be too high in the sky.

Long Weekend in Chaco Canyon | Saturday

Saturday, June 11, 2011

On Saturday morning I got up a little earlier than Amanda and headed out to try and get a photo of Fajada Butte at sunrise (since they don’t open the gates to the main park until 7:00am). When I arrived there were some nice clouds behind the butte, but they cleared out before the sun finally came up.