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The Grandest of Gulches: Back Into Lower Grand Gulch

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 11 | Thursday – Sunday, March 21-24, 2024

This week Diane and I took Thursday and Friday off from work so we could meet up with our friend Jared and spend a couple of days backpacking into lower Grand Gulch within the Bears Ears National Monument. While this would be Diane’s first time hiking into this part of Grand Gulch, Jared and I had hiked here about nine years ago and I was really looking forward to the return visit. From the very start of the hike we could tell there was a lot of water in the canyon from recent storms and that it might have even flash flooded recently, but all that water also created a lot of quicksand and mud in the wash that significantly slowed down our progress and forced us to follow brushy deer trails across the benches in many places. The weather during the first three days of our hike was great and the nights even stayed pretty warm, we only encountered wet weather during our final night in the canyon and during the hike back out of Collins Canyon. Here are some photos taken during our four days in Grand Gulch.

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Drifting Around Indian Creek Country III

Friday – Sunday, January 26-28, 2024

January has kind of been off to a rough start for me and I was really feeling the need to get away for the weekend alone and in a place that I am familiar with and comfortable in; a place that feels like home. So I decided to spend the weekend hiking and camping in Indian Creek Country, which has been one of my favorite places to explore the past couple of years, especially in the winter when there aren’t many other people around. Anyways, if you saw my post from earlier this month, you might have noticed that my Jeep has been out of commission for a few weeks by now, and the good news is that I finally got it back from being repaired earlier this week. One of the camshafts in the engine needed to be replaced, which had been on backorder for a little while, and thankfully the powertrain of my Jeep was still just barely under warranty. Since I had already paid for a rental car through this upcoming Monday, I figured I would leave the Jeep home and take the rental Ford Explorer out this weekend instead. I left from work on Friday afternoon and made my way south through Moab and down the Indian Creek Corridor, where I found a campsite along the road to Lockhart Basin just after sunset. I then spent the remainder of the weekend just wandering around the canyon country to see what I would find along the way. Below are some photos from my wanderings this weekend.

Rim to River: The Grand Canyon & Phantom Ranch

Grand Canyon National Park | Tuesday – Saturday, January 16-20, 2024

After spending a the first part of the week in Petrified Forest National Park we stayed at a hotel in Flagstaff for one night and then drove over to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on Tuesday morning by way of Williams and Tusayan. Since this was my very first time to the South Rim we headed straight to Mather Point for my first view of the canyon from this side. Then we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon visiting all of the overlooks along Desert View Drive as we made our way out to the Desert View Watchtower and then back again.

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The Painted Desert: Land of Light and Shadow

Homolovi State Park & Petrified Forest National Park
Saturday – Monday, January 13-15, 2024

For about a year now, Diane and I have been making pretty solid plans to spend most of the upcoming week in Grand Canyon National Park. Since we would be passing right through the Painted Desert on our way there, we were also looking forward to spending a couple of days in the Petrified Forest along the way. We certainly could never have predicted that after our first visit to Petrified Forest National Park in 2020 we would fall in love with exploring this amazing place and have now returned each year for the past five years. With so many places still left to explore in the park, we are hoping to keep the trend going well into the future!

Christmas in Arches 2023

Moab Winter Weekend | Saturday – Monday, December 23-25, 2023

After spending last weekend exploring the sandstone fins on the east side of the Colorado River in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, it was time for me to head over to Arches National Park for the extended Christmas weekend. While I usually only spend Christmas Day in Arches and then bounce around the desert canyons surrounding Moab for the rest of the holiday weekend, this year I wanted to spend the entire three days within the park. Unfortunately, Diane would not be joining me this year since she was scheduled to work all weekend and on the holiday, so I would be on my own. I left home early on Saturday morning and drove straight to Arches National Park through a consistent rain the entire way with some fog in the lower lying areas.

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Tag: ruins

The Grandest of Gulches: Back Into Lower Grand Gulch

Drifting Around Indian Creek Country III

Rim to River: The Grand Canyon & Phantom Ranch

The Painted Desert: Land of Light and Shadow

Christmas in Arches 2023