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We recently made a trip to Fish and Owl Canyons down in Cedar Mesa. It’s a region of Southeastern Utah that’s home to canyons, mountains, forested mesas, impressive sandstone formations and considerable Native American history.

At the far southern end of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is a valley called Salt Creek. The Salt Creek region is full of ancient ruins and petroglyphs unlike other areas of this National Park.

A trip to the Weminuche Wilderness to climb the 13ers Mount Oso and Mount Nebo via Hunchback Pass, Vallecito Creek, Nebo Creek and Rock Lake.

It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to escape the July 4th crowds in town and go explore the Sangres.

When a small storm moved into the Sierras mid-week, bringing wintry conditions to the mountains, we took the opportunity to head back to Death Valley National Park knowing that it would be unseasonably cool.

We’ve always insisted that some of the easiest peaks can present the biggest challenges. We had twice failed to reach the grassy summit of Electric Peak, 13,598 ft. in the Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Once in the fall it was due to unexpected snow and the second time, in summer, was due to intense rain.

We made a trip up to a favorite remote spot for the weekend, to Pierre Lakes high above Snowmass Creek. Many people who have climbed Capitol Peak have peered down to the rocky basin with the alpine lakes and promised themselves they would camp there someday, but the reality is that few actually do.

The following morning, with lighter packs, we continued down Buckskin Gulch to the Paria River. It was about six miles downstream to the confluence. After a quick dunk in the river and a little playing around with quicksand, we were on our way back up the canyon. We stopped at the midway exit to grab […]

Buckskin Gulch has the proud distinction of being the longest slot canyon in the world. All slot canyons by definition have sections of tight narrows, but the depth and length of these narrows can vary. Some are actually quite short, often measured in yards. Others can go for longer, even as long as a mile, […]

Continuing with our exploration of the peaks and valleys of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, we headed up to another new area, Dry Lakes and Horn Peak, 13,450 ft.