IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Earlier this year on our Arch Hunting | Dome Plateau Area trip, one of the arches that Amanda and I stopped to check out was Arrowhead Arch, as seen below.

Earlier today I was made aware that this arch had collapsed sometime this year. After searching for more information, I found this page on the Natural Arch and Bridge Society’s website that confirmed the collapse and had a few photos of this arch over the years that shows it’s demise.

I’m just glad we got to see this arch before it collapsed!

Saturday, December 25, 2010 | Christmas Day

Christmas was here again, and that meant it was time for our annual Christmas trip to Arches National Park. As usual, we started out with a hike to Landscape Arch to make sure it was still standing…..it was.

Then we wandered over to Pine Tree Arch for a few photos.

The view through Pine Tree Arch

A quick stop by Tunnel Arch on the way back to the Jeep

On our way to the Windows Section of the park, we hiked up to Skyline Arch.

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Saturday, November 27, 2010

On Saturday, Amanda and I headed west to the San Rafael Swell so we could go for a hike in Wild Horse Canyon. Before reaching our destination, we stopped by the pictographs along Temple Mountain Wash.

We eventually made our way to Wild Horse Canyon. We hiked up the canyon in search of some more pictographs….which I found high up in an alcove.

Next we scrambled out of the canyon and found the Wild Horse Window (Skylight Arch)

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Sunday, November 21, 2010

On Sunday morning we slept in a little later than the previous day. The weather reports had indicated that there would be snow overnight so we were expecting to wake up and find the ground covered, but when I looked out the window there was none. Still, the weather wasn’t the greatest; it was windy and raining off and on. Despite the weather we loaded up the Jeep and headed towards Comb Ridge.

When we reached the trailhead to the Procession Petroglyph Panel, Amanda decided that she wasn’t up for hiking in the wind, sleet and rain, so I headed off on my own while she waited in the Jeep.

The Procession Panel

View from the panel over Comb Ridge

After I made it back to the Jeep we headed through Comb Ridge and made our way south to the San Juan River. Last year when we stopped by the River House Ruins, we did not continue on to the Butler Wash petroglyph panel, so we made our way there.

Butler Wash Petroglyph Panel

There were a ton of petroglyphs all along this section of the cliff, but most of them were pretty badly eroded. Still, it was cool to walk along the cliff and spot them all.

Of course we stopped at the River House (Snake House) ruin again on our way back.

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Friday & Saturday, November 19-20, 2010

This last weekend was our annual November trip to the Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge area. We set out to check out some new ruins and rock art during the weekend and we were not disappointed. On Friday we both got out of work early and headed south to Blanding. On our way we made a quick stop at the Dewey petroglyph panel for a few quick photos before it got dark.

On our way towards Monticello I noticed a nice pink glow over the La Sal Mountains as the sun was setting, so I pulled over to take a quick picture.

Right after I took that photo, the pink glow disappeared.

After dinner in Monticello we finished the drive to Blanding, checked into our hotel (we’re not into cold weather camping) and got to sleep so we could get an early start the next morning.

We were up well before the sun was to rise on Saturday morning and on our way to Cedar Mesa. Our first destination for the day was Road Canyon, and we arrived at the trailhead just after the sun had come up. Here’s a few photos from our hike through Road Canyon…

Fallen Roof Ruin was high on my list of ruins to hike to, so that was our first stop

Fallen Roof

Amanda and I

We continued on down Road Canyon a little further to find a few more ruins.

These ruins had a real ‘fallen roof’

I climbed up to this well preserved granary

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