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Tag: petroglyphs

San Juan River: Sand Island to Mexican HatSan Juan River: Sand Island to Mexican Hat

San Juan River: Sand Island to Mexican Hat

Thursday – Sunday, September 18-21, 2025 | High CFS: 622 – Low CFS: 524

Although I certainly enjoy the early season spring-runoff river trips of summer, I think my favorite time to get out onto a desert river is during low-water at the end of the season in September. I guess I just enjoy the cooler temperatures, relaxing pace, minimal bugs and sandy campsites that are common at this time of the year. So when I realized earlier in the year that I had not been back on the San Juan River since 2019, I knew I wanted to get back on it during September since all of our previous trips have been in May and June. Jackson was also interested in a late season trip and managed to get us a permit for three days on the stretch from Sand Island to Mexican Hat. We were all set to finally float the San Juan River in September and I was looking forward to my final river trip of 2025!

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East Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo CanyonEast Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon

East Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon

Heart of the World | Thursday, May 29, 2025

I headed out after work this afternoon to the East Entrance of the Colorado National Monument so I could continue working on my Heart of the World project by hiking the Devils Kitchen and Echo Canyon trails. These are two trails close to home that I have hiked a number of times in the past, but I now realize that it’s been quite a while since I have hiked either one of them. After quickly looking through my old Trip reports it seems that the last time I hiked to the Devils Kitchen was almost a decade ago and the last time I was in Echo Canyon was way back in 2013. I guess I have been long overdue for a return and it was nice to revisit these locations at the east end of the Monument this afternoon, even if it was pretty warm out!

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Bookin’ It to the Book Cliffs & Uinta BasinBookin’ It to the Book Cliffs & Uinta Basin

Bookin’ It to the Book Cliffs & Uinta Basin

Rock Art of the Book Cliffs XI | Friday – Sunday, May 23-25, 2025

After floating through Desolation Canyon last week I’ve become very interested in spending more time within the canyons of the Tavaputs Plateau from the crest of the Book Cliffs to the depression of the Uinta Basin, and I thought this would be the perfect place to spend this busy holiday weekend away from the more popular areas of southern Utah, just like I had done four years ago. I met up with a friend late on Friday afternoon so we could spend the remainder of the weekend camping, hiking and searching the canyons for rock art. Throughout the weekend we found quite a few petroglyphs and pictographs left by a number of different cultures and time periods from Barrier Canyon Style to Fremont and Historic Ute. We ended up driving a lot of dusty miles on rough roads, saw a lot of wildlife including wild horses and elk, plus we saw a lot of dead cows for some reason. These are some photos of what else we saw along the way…

CONTINUE READINGBookin’ It to the Book Cliffs & Uinta Basin
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Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green RiverDesolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

Splitting the Tavaputs Plateau in Two: Sand Wash to Swaseys Beach
Sunday – Saturday, May 11-17, 2025 | Average CFS: 6,665

After getting permits for Yampa Canyon and the Canyon of Lodore over the past two years, Jackson’s and my main goal for this year was to try and get a Spring Low-Use Season permit for the Green River through Desolation Canyon and Gray Canyon as we continue to work our way through more sections of the Colorado River and Green River across the Colorado Plateau. Although Jackson and I have still have never actually won a permit in any of the lotteries we have entered over the years we have been lucky enough to grab permits and cancellations during the general releases after the fact, and this time I managed to get us a permit for Desolation Canyon back in mid-March. Once we had the permit we quickly got started on the planning process since the launch date was only about two months away, but we quickly found out that many of our usual river friends were unable to make the trip this spring. Luckily, our friends Bob and Lisa were able to go and they had a few other friends that they were able to invite on the trip with us, two of whom were very familiar with Desolation Canyon and were a great addition to the trip! In the end I enjoyed rafting with everyone who was on this trip and would invite every single one of them back in a heartbeat!

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Keg Point and the Labyrinth Canyon WildernessKeg Point and the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness

Keg Point and the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness

Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, April 18-20, 2025

After spending last week in Arizona and then driving up to Salt Lake City in the middle of this past week to attend a concert on Wednesday evening I had fully intended to take this weekend off to stay home and relax for the first time this year, but Diane was going to be working nights this weekend and she wanted me out of the house so she could get some rest in between shifts. I quickly threw together a last minute itinerary and left after work on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend exploring the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness on the west side of the Green River where I could go on some hikes that I’ve wanted to do for a long time but have kept putting off. I was hoping this area wouldn’t be too busy over the Easter holiday weekend and thankfully that turned out to be a good bet!

CONTINUE READINGKeg Point and the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness
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