great report and photos and you both did very well to hike in that heat!

The food pics are making me hungry but I enjoyed revisiting some faves of mine along the way including that hot tub at Boulder Mountain Lodge.

Love your trip report and photos. Will follow part of it this March.

Elainee - so glad you enjoyed our trip report from our 2012 visit. We've traveled back to the southwest every year since that 2012 adventure and have explored southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northern Arizona and New Mexico. Please be sure to ask questions and request recommendations for your upcoming March trip. Happy to help!

Hi Sharon and Peter. Happy Holidays to you!

Hey Dayle! Hope all is very well with you. Happy holidays!

Absolutely incredible trip & trip report! I loved the format - the pictures and your descriptive writing. Thank you for sharing it!

So glad you enjoyed the trip report, gnomemom. I hadn't looked at it in a long while so I ended up enjoying it too! Especially fun to look at pictures of the beautiful desert with snow and temps in the 20's here at home.

Very impressive trip report and one lucky deer.

Needles District - certainly a hiking paradise. I'm please to learn that Tracey and Gary still own that outpost. Nice people. Next time, suggest using a Jeep (I use an off road motorcycle), travel over Elephant Hill to the trails. Much easier than hiking from the bottom. Needles is famous for its painted faces (4, 5, 13 and blue men). The 200-hands petroglyph is truly a work of art. Of course the prize is the all American man (had a hard time finding this guy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jchC6B0CI

Blanding has many, many ruins and one excellent pictograph panel east of town. Bluff is also home to many ruins as you noted.

Next time you are in Boulder, drive down Burr road to the black (rare) petrified forest. And the arches to the north just before going down Burr switchbacks.

Next time you are at Hovenweep, you must visit the Horseshoe, Hackberry & Holly group. At the Cajon group, Dr. Williamson’s book illustrates how the larger buildings are carefully arranged along summer and winter solstice and the equinox axis. Of the entire area, only Cajon has a pictograph (one each-hidden under a ledge)

Triva - Valley of Fire has, to my knowledge, the ONLY pictograph of an atlatl.

Good report
Vaga

Thanks for the great tips, Vaga. This trip report is from our 2012 visit. We've since spent more time in Hovenweep on recent trips (even this past fall) and also Canyon of the Ancients. We look forward to getting back to Needles for further exploration - may this fall!

Welcome
I'm returning to Needles either this spring or fall paced by how many honey-do is put on my calendar.

IF you return to Needles, there are some excellent ruins at Beef Basin. One of the best is slightly east of Beef Basin. Wooden Beams still protrude from that ruin hidden in an alcove.
N37 56.774 W109 50.915

Vaga