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Tag: sunset

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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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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From the Colorado River to the Gold Bar Rim

Moab Meanderings | Saturday & Sunday, January 10-11, 2026

This weekend I returned to the sandstone landscape surrounding Moab so I could explore some of the area between the Colorado River and the Gold Bar Rim centered around Culvert Canyon, which is also known as Cameltoe Canyon. I wanted to get in some decent elevation gain during my hike on Saturday since I am hopefully going to be hiking into a very deep canyon again in just a couple of weeks, so I thought it might be interesting to hike from the Colorado River all the way to the top of the Gold Bar Rim by following the Jeep Arch Trail and then some other rugged 4X4 routes found in the vicinity. I left home bright and early on Saturday morning and made my way over to the Culvert Canyon Trailhead to start the hike!

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Moab Meanderings: Grandstaff Canyon & Sand Flats

Sand Flats Recreation Area II | Saturday & Sunday, December 27-28, 2025

Well, this is it- my final Trip Report of 2025! For this final weekend of the year I returned to the landscape surrounding Moab so I could spend my time hiking and exploring Grandstaff Canyon. While I vaguely recall hiking the popular trail from the mouth of Grandstaff Canyon to Morning Glory Bridge way back in 2010 with my friend Jackson when the canyon was known by a more racially insensitive name, for some reason I do not have any photos or even a Trip Report from that day, which is very unusual for me, so I planned to re-hike that trail early on Sunday morning to refresh my memory and take a few photos along the way. Since I would be doing that on Sunday I figured that it would be interesting to spend Saturday exploring other parts of Grandstaff Canyon so I could get a better overview of the area, and that’s what I set out to do when I left home bright and early on Saturday morning and made my way over to the Sand Flats Recreation Area.

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Moab Winter Solstice Weekend 2025

Moab Area Rock Art XLVIII | Saturday & Sunday, December 20-21, 2025

It’s that time of the year again when the massive crowds are mostly gone and I can start returning to the slickrock landscape surrounding Moab on the weekends for a few short months during the winter. Throughout the busier times of the year my list of hikes and areas to explore around Moab has steadily been growing and I’ve been looking forward to getting back. This weekend I decided to spend this Winter Solstice searching for a couple of new rock art sites while also revisiting some sites that I haven’t been back to in about a decade. Of course, this weekend didn’t really feel anything like winter since the weather was very mild with high temperatures that were almost into the 60’s. These are some pictures of what I saw this weekend on the shortest days of the year.

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