Summer Solstice on the Grand Mesa | Sunday, June 21, 2026
After going on a nice overnight backpacking trip into the Flat Tops Wilderness with Jackson, I returned home on Saturday afternoon to spend some time with our new kitties. Then on Sunday morning Diane and I drove up onto the Grand Mesa so we could hike to the summit of Leon Peak, which at 11,236 feet is the highest point in Mesa County, since she had never been up there before and I was interested in returning again since the last time I was there was about twelve ...
Flat Tops Wilderness | Friday – Saturday, June 19-20, 2026
This year for the Juneteenth holiday Jackson and I headed up into the Flat Tops Wilderness for a quick overnight backpacking trip so I could finally hike to the summit of Big Marvine Peak, which is something I’ve wanted to do since the first time I laid eyes on that peak jutting out from the top of the plateau from a distance. I had actually planned to hike to Big Marvine Peak with Diane when we backpacked to the Marvine Lakes about three years ago, but things didn’t quite ...
Kanab: Base Camp to Southern Utah | Rock Art of the Grand Staircase
Sunday – Thursday, May 3-7, 2026
After driving all the way across the Arizona Strip on Friday and spending the remainder of the weekend exploring the Sand Hills on top of the Paria Plateau, I drove back over the northern end of the Kaibab Plateau on Sunday afternoon and made my way down to Kanab at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs to spend the rest of the week attending the 2026 UGIC Conference for work. It’s been quite a while since I last spent much ...
Beyond the High Plateaus: The Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District, Part II
Saturday – Sunday, May 2-3, 2026
After spending all day Friday driving across the Arizona Strip, I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to watch the sunrise from the edge of Marble Canyon and then drove up House Rock Valley along the base of the Kaibab Plateau to the western end of the Paria Plateau so I could spend the rest of the weekend exploring the Sand Hills on top. Aside from an amazing backpacking trip through Paria Canyon last spring, I have ...
Canyons of the San Rafael Reef IV | Saturday & Sunday, January 24-25, 2026
While I was initially just planning on just returning to the landscape surrounding Moab again this weekend like I typically do at this time of the year, as I was watching the winter storm unfold on Friday afternoon I saw that Moab was getting some rain and snow while the weather seemed to be completely missing the area around the San Rafael Reef, so I changed gears and decided to head over that way early on Saturday morning instead. Since I was looking to get ...
Fruita Frontcountry | Wednesday, October 29, 2025
I was originally hoping to leave after work today and head over into the Canyons of the Escalante for four days to try and salvage part of my annual Southern Utah Wanderings trip that I missed earlier in the month, but Diane was still having some possible concerning issues with her recovery and I thought it would be best to stay close to home for now. Instead, I ended up going on a hike after work on a few different segments of trails surrounding Al Look Hill within the McInnis Canyons National Conservation ...
Uncompahgre Wilderness & Fall Colors 2025 | Friday & Saturday, September 26-27, 2025
This weekend I headed up into the Uncompahgre Wilderness near Lake City so I could spend one final weekend hiking in the high country above treeline as my season in the mountains comes to an end. I’ve been wanting to hike more sections of the Ridge Stock Driveway Trail that traverses much of the wilderness from American Flats in the west to the Alpine Plateau in the east, and I thought it would be fun to hike a segment above Nellie Creek, Big Blue Creek and El ...
Saturday, August 23, 2025
After leaving Yellowstone National Park through it’s South Entrance on Saturday morning it was time to start our drive back home, but since we would be driving through Grand Teton National Park for the first time we decided to spend a few hours in the park stopping at overlooks and viewpoints along the way and even going on a couple of short hikes. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of smoke in the air from wildfires and the hazy light during our late morning and early afternoon visit was pretty terrible, so these are just some ...
Tuesday – Saturday, August 19-23, 2025
Up until about a week ago Diane and I were planning to spend the latter part of this week backpacking in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, however some things came up that prevented us from going on a longer backpacking trip at this time, so we decided to change course and throw together a last minute trip to Yellowstone National Park instead. Neither of us had ever been to Yellowstone before and I’ve certainly always avoided the park because of the massive crowds it attracts, but I guess it was finally time to ...
Friday & Saturday, July 11-12, 2025
This weekend I decided to return to the edge of the Elk Mountains near Kebler Pass and the Ruby Range so I could finally finish hiking the trail along Scarp Ridge all the way out to the Red Lady (Mount Emmons) since I was unable to reach the summit a few years ago when I was stopped by an impassable washout of the trail in Evans Basin. I left from work on Friday afternoon, topped off my gas tank in Delta and then made my way over to Kebler Pass and Ohio Pass for ...
