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Vermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand StaircaseVermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand Staircase

Vermilion Cliffs: Stepping Onto the Grand Staircase

Kanab: Base Camp to Southern Utah | Rock Art of the Grand Staircase
Sunday – Thursday, May 3-7, 2026

After driving all the way across the Arizona Strip on Friday and spending the remainder of the weekend exploring the Sand Hills on top of the Paria Plateau, I drove back over the northern end of the Kaibab Plateau on Sunday afternoon and made my way down to Kanab at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs to spend the rest of the week attending the 2026 UGIC Conference for work. It’s been quite a while since I last spent much time in the landscape surrounding Kanab and there were quite a few rock art sites and other short hikes that I’ve wanted to check out, so I was planning to visit as many of these sites as I could during the week when I wasn’t busy at the conference. Luckily, I was able to find plenty of time for a few sandy drives and short hikes either before or after the conference each day and was able to find most of the sites that I was looking for this week, plus a couple extras along the way! These are just some photos from my week exploring the the cliffs at the base of the Grand Staircase.

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Phantom Ranch: The Bottom of the Grand CanyonPhantom Ranch: The Bottom of the Grand Canyon

Phantom Ranch: The Bottom of the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park | Saturday – Wednesday, January 31 – February 4, 2026

Just about a year ago I was able to secure reservations for a three night stay in a cabin at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which Diane and I were looking forward to. We had both thoroughly enjoyed our very first visit to Phantom Ranch just over two years ago, so when the opportunity came up to return- we jumped at it! After making the reservations our initial plans were to spend a few relaxing days at the bottom of the Grand Canyon together while also taking a day to hike up the North Kaibab Trail to Ribbon Falls while we were down there. Of course, little did we know at that time that the Dragon Bravo Fire would decimate the North Rim and close the North Kaibab Trail or that Diane would later find out that she had a meningioma that would require surgery in October. Even after surgery we still had hopes that Diane would be able to go on this trip, but after some setbacks that delayed her Radiation Therapy to mid-January, she would not be finishing up the therapy until later in February and unfortunately would not be able to join me on this trip.

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The Upper Paria River Gorge & Sheep Creek LoopThe Upper Paria River Gorge & Sheep Creek Loop

The Upper Paria River Gorge & Sheep Creek Loop

Canyons of the Paria | Deer Creek Canyon & Lower Bull Valley Gorge
Southern Utah Wanderings | Friday – Monday, October 2-5, 2020

This year for our annual week-long trek into Southern Utah, Jared and I decided to spend most of our time exploring the canyons of the upper Paria River located within the Paria – Hackberry Wilderness Study Area. As usual, I left right after work on Friday afternoon and headed to the BLM Visitor Center in Cannonville where Jared and I had planned to meet up. Our timing turned out to be pretty good since he arrived about 15 minutes after me. We then we made our way over to Between the Creeks Point and found a spot to camp for the night. We quickly got our tents set up and went right to bed since it was getting pretty late.

CONTINUE READINGThe Upper Paria River Gorge & Sheep Creek Loop
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