The week before Christmas, I decided to take a solo trip to southern Utah where there was no winter and no worries about Christmas shopping. I headed to Kanab Utah, on the Arizona border, and then turned eastward heading towards Lake Powell.
My first destination was the Rimrock Hoodoos on the north side of the highway just after the highway cuts through the rock reef called ‘The Cockscomb’ and just after the highway crosses the Paria River. From the highway, it is a short hike northward up the drainage to the rimrock area that is dotted with bizarre hoodoos and spires.
The clouds even cooperated to provide interesting formations.
I then headed for Page Arizona and drove southwest of the town so I could hike out to the Horseshoe Bend overlook.
I then had enough time to loop deeper into Arizona before taking the highway back into Utah so I could end up in Bluff Utah and get a room for the night.
The next morning, I stopped at the San Juan River crossing so I could take pictures of the large number of petroglyphs etched on the cliff walls at Sand Island.
Next I headed east until the highway passed through ‘The Cockscomb”. At the bottom of the hill, there was a dirt road that headed south following the drainage on the west side of the reef until it dumps into the San Juan River. Here there are remains of a trading post and ranch referred to as ‘The Rincone’.
Just to the east is the San Juan Hill trail that the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers created to get around the reef.
Just down a dirt road following the river, are ancient cliff ruins and petroglyphs.
I could have spent several days down in this area of Utah just bumping around and taking pictures but my family probably wanted me home again. It is good to have a wife and family to go home to.
All that traveling and not one natural arch to report.
Bah Humbug!