ruins // ADVENTR.co

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.

2 Comments

The Needles: Wandering a Wilderness of Stone

Canyonlands National Park | Friday – Sunday, March 6-8, 2026

Since I’ve already spent some time in both the Island in the Sky and The Maze districts of Canyonlands National Park this year, I figured this weekend would be the perfect opportunity for me to get back into The Needles so I could knock out all three districts by early March. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been an entire year since I was last in The Needles when Diane and I went backpacking into Chesler Park last March, so I was itching to get back! This time I didn’t really have any set destinations in mind when I left from work on Friday afternoon, I just knew that I wanted to wander off trail across some sandstone benches and through some canyons to see what I could find along the way. I was wanting to make it to the park before sunset since there had been winter storms across the Colorado Plateau all day and I was hoping to catch the storm clearing out at sunset.

1 Comment

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…

2 Comments

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.

4 Comments

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.

7 Comments

Tag: ruins

Sandstone Spine: Canyons of Comb Ridge

The Needles: Wandering a Wilderness of Stone

Red River: Rock Art of the Palavayu

Phantom Ranch: The Bottom of the Grand Canyon

Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears