IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Saturday & Sunday, April 21-22, 2012

I was originally supposed to go camping this weekend with Amanda, but at the last minute she was unable to go with me, so I had to figure out something else to do. I sent an email to Marty to see if he was free on the weekend for some hiking on Cedar Mesa, but I figured he already had plans and I would be on my own. To my surprise, he was free and willing to join me. At first he thought he would only be joining me on Saturday, but he ended up camping overnight and exploring with me the whole weekend.

We met up in Blanding at the usual gas station so that we could top off our fuel tanks before driving through Comb Ridge and up onto Cedar Mesa. We made a quick stop at the Kane Gulch Ranger Station so that I could finally grab my Annual Hiking Permit for the year, and then continued on to the Owl Creek Canyon trailhead. I was surprised to see so many vehicles parked here. I guess I am used to hiking the lesser travelled canyons in Cedar Mesa, because I wasn’t expecting the parking area to be packed. Normally I would probably turn around and find somewhere else to go, but I sucked it up and continued on down into Owl Canyon for a short hike.

We stopped and visited the well-preserved set of ruins just in the large alcove along the trail. There were some very interesting and unique ruins here.

Owl Creek Alcove by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

There were also some pictographs painted on the ceiling of the alcove.

Paintings by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Small Room by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Saturday & Sunday, April 7-8, 2012

I set out this weekend with one goal in mind- I was searching for a specific ruin known as the Painted Granary or Nestled Granary. I had done some research and thought I figured out which canyon it might be hidden in. The only way to know for sure was to get out there, hike around and search for it…so that’s what I did!

While trying to find a way into the canyon, I came across these ‘bird tracks’ in a very shallow alcove.

Bird Tracks by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Eventually I managed to find my way into the mouth of the canyon and started hiking upstream while searching the canyon walls for ruins. I hadn’t hiked very long when I spotted the ruin I was looking for…I was excited to find it and scrambled up the loose talus slope to reach it. There were a few other ruins below it that weren’t in as good of shape.

Ruins Below by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

There was also one nice reverse handprint painted on the sandstone inside the large alcove. There were a couple other one’s that were pretty faint and hard to see, too.

Hand & Painted Granary by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Las Vegas Trip 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012

After another night at our hotel in Las Vegas we were up early and on our way out of the city and over to Valley of Fire State Park. I was looking forward to visiting this amazing little area and we were planning on spending the full day here. Even though a full day was nowhere near enough time to explore the whole park, we managed to see a lot and took many photos.

The sun came up just as we were nearing the entrance to the park. I loved the way the light was striking the mountains as we drove through this area, so I had to quickly stop and compose a shot.

Golden Morning by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Driving into the golden morning light.

Fire Road by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Road Light by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After finally arriving at the park I quickly went searching for some arches near the entrance…

Arch & Tiny Moon by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

I just spent the weekend on Cedar Mesa in search of the specific ruin featured in the photo above, and as you might have guessed, I did manage to find it!

This well-preserved ruin is nestled in the back of a deep alcove which has helped protect it from the elements and kept it in good shape. The most unusual part of this ruin is the painted pictographs on it’s exterior. I can’t recall seeing anything else like it which makes this one pretty unique. Because of the photogenic alcove this granary was located in, I had a lot of fun taking photoso of it from all different angles, so I’m sure I’ll be posting other photos of it in the future. This photo was taken to emphasize the curved lines and golden color of the smoke-stained ceiling of the alcove above the ruin.

Las Vegas Trip 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012

After a great weekend exploring Zion National Park, Amanda and I decided to stick around a bit longer on Monday morning before starting our drive to Las Vegas.

I visited the Court of the Patriarchs in the morning to catch the sunrise. I was worried for a bit that the clouds to the east would block the early morning light, but I ended up getting this spotlighting on the large sandstone formations above the Virgin River.

Court of the Patriarchs by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After some breakfast we hiked the Emerald Pools trail before leaving the park. This sidewalk lead around the lower pools and under the small waterfalls above.

Emerald Sidewalk by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Looking up at the small waterfalls pouring over the sandstone.

Emerald Falls by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr