snow // ADVENTR.co

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country II

Friday – Sunday, November 22-24, 2024

This weekend I met up with a friend so we could explore some new places surrounding Bears Ears National Monument, although we did end up making our way up onto the edges of Cedar Mesa for a couple of short hikes, too. I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed dinner at Milt’s in Moab before they close for the winter, and then continued on towards Blanding where I stopped for an evening photo over Recapture Reservoir before finding a campsite just outside of town and getting to bed early. Then early on Saturday morning I met up with my friend in Blanding and we headed out into the Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country for the rest of the weekend. These are some photos of what we saw.

Bandelier National Monument and the Pajarito Plateau

Lost in the Land of Enchantment | Saturday – Sunday, November 9-10, 2024

We don’t seem to have very good luck when it comes to planning a trip to visit Bandelier National Monument. We have been trying to make it down to Bandelier for the past couple of years and have made plans to go there on at least three separate occasions, but each and every time something has prevented us from making the trip, including park closures due to flash flooding and a wildfire. This year I decided to plan a trip to Bandelier in early November thinking it would be a good time to avoid some of those previous issues, but apparently I was wrong since an early and unusually strong winter storm impacted Bandelier, along with the rest of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, on the day that we were supposed to arrive which closed the park yet again! Talk about bad luck!

Wupatki National Monument & Sunset Crater Volcano

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Well, this extended weekend trip that I planned for Diane and myself certainly did not start off on the right foot! The initial plans for this three-day weekend started to come together back in early September when I was finally able to sign us up for a Ranger-Led hike to the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument. I’ve been trying to get on one of these hikes for many years without any luck, so I was very excited to finally get on the list this year. Unfortunately, the first winter storm of the season would have other plans for us as it impacted the Colorado Plateau just before our scheduled hike. Although I had been watching the weather closely the day before our hike and it appeared that the storm mostly missed the Wupatki area, when we were near Cameron on Saturday morning and just less than an hour away from Wupatki we both received the following message from the Ranger in charge of the hike:

The Carbon Corridor: A Few Evenings Around Price

Monday – Thursday, May 6-9, 2024

After spending the weekend in Salt Lake City with Diane, we returned home for a normal day of work on Monday and then I drove back up to Price afterwards since I would be spending the rest of the week attending the annual Utah Geographic Information Council (UGIC) Conference, which was being held in the Carbon Corridor this year. Of course, during my drive to Price I took a detour off of the highway into the very northern reaches of the San Rafael Swell so I could go on a short hike and a scenic drive before continuing on to my hotel for the night. There had been a consistent and strong cold wind blowing all day which made the hiking a bit chilly this evening and it offered a preview of what the weather would have in store for the remainder of the week!

2 Comments

The Twists and Turns of Salt Creek Canyon

Canyonlands National Park | Thursday – Monday, April 4-8, 2024

After a rugged hike around Navajo Mountain last year, Dave, Jared and I decided to return to a very familiar place in Canyonlands National Park for our annual spring backpacking trip this year as we started making plans to continue exploring the twists and turns of Salt Creek Canyon a few months ago. Although we have all hiked into Salt Creek many times over the years, I hadn’t been back to the middle section of the canyon since our first hike down the length of the canyon just about ten years ago, and I was looking forward to returning! I left from work on Thursday afternoon and made my way to Indian Creek Country for the evening where I found a campsite and watched a colorful sunset on the surrounding cliffs while waiting for Dave and Jared to arrive.

4 Comments

Tag: snow

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country II

Bandelier National Monument and the Pajarito Plateau

Wupatki National Monument & Sunset Crater Volcano

The Carbon Corridor: A Few Evenings Around Price

The Twists and Turns of Salt Creek Canyon