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Potsherds & Petroglyphs from the Painted Desert

Thursday – Saturday, April 16-18, 2026

After spending a full week below the rim in the Grand Canyon we returned to Flagstaff for a night before we planned to drive over to Petrified Forest National Park and the surrounding Palavayu area to spend a couple of days before heading home. Unfortunately, things would not go quite as planned because my right eye started to hurt really bad and bother me overnight and I ended up having to go to Urgent Care on Friday morning where I found out that I had a scratched cornea and wouldn’t be able to wear my contacts for a few days. It’s not surprising based on how much blowing sand we encountered in the canyon, but I am really glad that I didn’t have any issues with my eye while we were still in the canyon because that would not have been fun!

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 16

Wednesday – Sunday, March 18-22, 2026

This year Dave, Jared and I decided to take it easier during our annual Spring Trip and eschewed our typical longer backpacking trip for car-camping and day-hiking on Cedar Mesa since we were worried about finding water in the canyons after the very dry winter the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains have experienced. This turned out to be a good decision for us since much of the Southwest was experiencing an unprecedented heat wave during the same time, and to be honest, I would not have been up for carrying a heavy pack in this heat. Because of the very warm temperatures we didn’t hike as much as we normally would and ended up spending more time relaxing and resting in the shade at camp in the afternoons. I did get a lot of reading in! These are some photos of what we saw over our four days in Bears Ears National Monument.

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Sandstone Spine: Canyons of Comb Ridge

Friday – Sunday, March 13-15, 2026

Since Diane finished up her Radiation Therapy just about two weeks ago, we decided to get out on her first camping trip since she had surgery back at the beginning of October. We chose to spend the weekend mostly around Comb Ridge in Bears Ears National Monument so we could keep the hikes shorter and a bit easier for Diane if we needed to, but she really needed to get in some mileage and elevation during these hikes to help her get back into the swing of things since she is supposed to be hiking down into the Grand Canyon with me in just under a month. At the last minute I ended up taking off from work on Friday so we could have a little more time in the outdoors together and we left home on Friday morning and headed down to Comb Wash where we found a nice campsite for the rest of the weekend. These are some photos from our weekend around the Sandstone Spine.

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Red River: Rock Art of the Palavayu

Thursday – Saturday, February 5-7, 2026

After spending a few relaxing days at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch, I hiked out and stayed at a hotel in Flagstaff for one night before continuing on east across the colorful Painted Desert so I could spend a few more days searching for rock art sites in the Palavayu, including Petrified Forest National Park, before returning home late on Saturday evening. Over the past six years since our first visit to the Petrified Forest, this area has quickly become one of my favorite places to explore and I look forward to my annual visit each year! I spent the better part of the next three days hiking and searching for new rock art sites, but I also ended up revisiting a few places that I had been to before to see what I had missed the first time. These are just some photos of what I saw this time…

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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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Tag: potsherds

Potsherds & Petroglyphs from the Painted Desert

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 16

Sandstone Spine: Canyons of Comb Ridge

Red River: Rock Art of the Palavayu

Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears