We closed out 2025 with four days on the Colorado Plateau.
We returned to familiar places, Joan showed me sites she’d seen while I was away, and we spotted new ones together. We keep coming back out here for the same reason Benton MacKaye described in a different landscape: to walk, to see, and to see what we see.
As we move through the canyons and pay attention to what’s in front of us, a line from Walt Whitman comes to mind:
You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
Joan found the mornings a bit cold. 🙂
We do not “find” these places through any special method. We study the map, read the terrain, notice small signs, and stay curious. Mostly, we look around. We follow the wisdom of the world-renowned archaeologist and philosopher Yogi Berra: “You can observe a lot by just watching.”
Corn imprint and original wood.
We caught the December light and let it do what it always does out here. It sharpens edges, lengthens shadows, and makes the red rock stand out even more against a winter blue sky.
A tower base over the canyon
Every canyon fork invites a pause, and every cliff face hints at something memorable.
I loved the “bead work” motif on one of the images.
Imprints of fingers from generations ago.
The land still carries clear echoes of lives lived here long before us.
Then the sun dropped, and the temperature followed right on cue for late December. We settled into the cold night with our usual chocolate and cider, wrapped ourselves in layers of down, and felt grateful for another year that still left room for small, good things.
The warmest December on record for Utah meant paying attention to the water sources.
Joan is about to enjoy some chocolate.
We did not try to close the year with anything epic. We walked, paid attention, and shared a few days in the winding canyons. We can’t think of a better way to end another year on the Colorado Plateau.
Photo from Joan. As she noted previously, “42” of space, 14+ hours in the tent, one Luci Light, and lots of down!