The Navajo sandstone buttes, mesas, hills, and mountains of the southern Colorado Plateau are really hardened sand dunes, weathered into slickrock slopes awaiting our exploration.   There are trails in canyons and washes, but to hike to higher elevations is often a scramble on a series of sandstone steps or slickrock ledges.

The ledges are really just layers of sandstone, often eroded to a type of step pattern up the slope.   Going up is rarely done in a straight line.   Once up onto the slickrock slopes, take a line and angle upwards, following the best route.   Stop and look for another route, zig-zagging upwards.   Continue this process as far as the ledges permit.   Going down will be harder, so be mindful of how far you go.   Aim for ridges, the tops of mesas, or high shoulders.   Some routes may have cairns to show the path of least resistance, but often you are making it up as you go.

Lizards scuttle into rock shelters.   Cactus, juniper, pinon, and spiny plants cling to crevices where water might linger.  You may find hoodoos, layered rock, cross-bedded slopes, slots, alcoves, potholes, sculpted channels, and hues of red, orange, white, and coral color the cliffs.

This type of exploration is so different from our hikes in B.C.   The southwest slickrock invites creative route-finding to secluded spots.   The routes are not found in trail guides.   Just park your vehicle and start to climb, going where your heart pulls you.