Photos to be added
Far too long ago, during the golden years of parenting, we took a family road trip that included a through hike of the North Rainbow Trail. Glorious red rock framed by a snow covered Navajo Mountain and complete solitude. I thought it was the most beautiful trip I had ever been on. While camping in Owl Canyon I managed to find the moki steps referenced in an obscure article written by Greg Child about a first almost-decent of the remote Anasazi canyon (I could have the names completely wrong). Staring out across the endlessly rugged terrain I was inspired to return.
So in the spring on 2025 I returned with three friends for eight days of wandering through the terrain west and south of Navajo mountain. Without giving all the specifics away we used boat taxis from Antelope Marina to enter at West Canyon and exit at Rainbow Bridge. In the interim we crossed Cummings Mesa, descended Aztec Creek and made a convoluted loop through the Mystery Canyons. Very few foot prints were encountered, heavily constructed sheep herding trails were stumbled upon in incredibly remote and rugged terrain, and a startling semi-lucid encounter with the ancients occurred, well exactly when and where it should have.
I'm no Steve Allen. I'll never walk 75,000 miles around the Colorado Plateau. I visit for a week or two on an annual basis, see a lot more the most and a lot less than some, always leaving a bit frustrated that I'll never know it as well as I might like. But I'm fairly certain I'll never do a trip on the plateau that matches the spectacular grandeur we experienced on this trip.
BITD
Starting out
Somewhere in West Canyon
Narrows
Beyond Narrows
Walls of Cummings Mesa
The Ends of the Earth
More later
Far too long ago, during the golden years of parenting, we took a family road trip that included a through hike of the North Rainbow Trail. Glorious red rock framed by a snow covered Navajo Mountain and complete solitude. I thought it was the most beautiful trip I had ever been on. While camping in Owl Canyon I managed to find the moki steps referenced in an obscure article written by Greg Child about a first almost-decent of the remote Anasazi canyon (I could have the names completely wrong). Staring out across the endlessly rugged terrain I was inspired to return.
So in the spring on 2025 I returned with three friends for eight days of wandering through the terrain west and south of Navajo mountain. Without giving all the specifics away we used boat taxis from Antelope Marina to enter at West Canyon and exit at Rainbow Bridge. In the interim we crossed Cummings Mesa, descended Aztec Creek and made a convoluted loop through the Mystery Canyons. Very few foot prints were encountered, heavily constructed sheep herding trails were stumbled upon in incredibly remote and rugged terrain, and a startling semi-lucid encounter with the ancients occurred, well exactly when and where it should have.
I'm no Steve Allen. I'll never walk 75,000 miles around the Colorado Plateau. I visit for a week or two on an annual basis, see a lot more the most and a lot less than some, always leaving a bit frustrated that I'll never know it as well as I might like. But I'm fairly certain I'll never do a trip on the plateau that matches the spectacular grandeur we experienced on this trip.
BITD
Starting out
Somewhere in West Canyon
Narrows
Beyond Narrows
Walls of Cummings Mesa
The Ends of the Earth
More later
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