Tentative field trips and meeting dates for 2025 are listed below. Updates and changes are in RED.
As more activities and field trips are planned, updated information will be posted here and in the Moki Messenger. Please read General Information About Field Trips and check forthcoming issues of the Moki Messenger and monitor this webpage for updates. Field trip participants must be current SJBAS members. For information about these trips or to sign up, please contact the trip organizers directly.
This trip schedule is a “work in progress.” Although we hope to go on the outings as planned, these dates and destinations are subject to change due to adverse weather or road conditions, unanticipated scheduling conflicts, or changes made by the trip organizers. Click on the hyperlinks for more information about trip destinations or meeting presentations. In addition to the following trips, there are several important conferences scheduled for this year, including the Pecos Conference. Check the Moki Messenger or our website, www.sjbas.org, for details.
Tentative Field Trip and Meeting Schedule – 2025
| January 8 | SJBAS meeting – “War Paint: Biographic Art Painted on Plains War Horses” by James Keyser of the Oregon Archaeological Society |
| January 16 | SJBAS Board Meeting – Center of Southwest Studies. 1:30-3:30 p.m. |
| February 12 | SJBAS meeting – “The Keepers of Tradition: Clown Societies in the Casas Grandes and Puebloan Worlds” by Michael Mathiowetz, PhD, Getty Research Institute |
| February 14-17 | Ohkay Owingeh Deer Dance – We will visit Ohkay Owingeh to observe the Noon and Evening dances, Pueblo de San Ildefonso, home of potter Maria Martinez, and other sites in the Santa Fe area. Hotel. Difficulty: Easy. Contact Rusty Chamberlain at chambrke@aol.com. Sign-up begins Jan. 1st |
| March 12 | SJBAS meeting – “Adaptive foraging behaviors in the Horn of Africa during the Toba supereruption” by John Kappelman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin |
| March-April TBA | Bluff, Utah 3-day camping trip – Explore Bluff area via car camping with Andy Gulliford. Pending receipt of BLM permit. Difficulty: Moderate. Contact Andy at andy@agulliford.com Sign up begins Feb. 1st. |
| April 11 | Guided Day Trip to Diné Defensive Sites and Rock Art – Cost: $110 payable to Salmon Ruins on day of the trip. Includes guide, transportation from Bloomfield, lunch, water. Minimum signup: reached. We have filled one vehicle and welcome a few additional members to add a second van. Difficulty: Easy-active. Contact: Hunter at hunter.mccleary@gmail.com |
| April 9 | SJBAS meeting – “Faux Native American Picture-Writing in Colorado and the American West” by Leigh Marymor, Research Affiliate at the Museum of Northern Arizona |
| April-May TBA | Hovenweep Outlier Towers Day Trip. Cutthroat Castle, Painted Hand, Holly Tower. We will compare and contrast siting, masonry, function, and occupation periods as each is different. Difficulty: Moderate. Contact: Andy Dennison at andrewdennison86@gmail.com |
| April-May TBA | Cottonwood Wash Camping Trip – In development. Contact: Tom Polich at atthomas.polich@gmail.com. |
| April-May TBA | Mitchel Springs – Planned to coincide with a professional excavation of the site. Possible two-day trip. Difficulty: Easy-Active. Contact: Tom atthomas.polich@gmail.com. |
| April-May TBA | Jackson Castle Day Hike – One-mile hike to pueblo with a dozen kivas and long walls. Difficulty: Moderate. Contact Andy at andrewdennison86@gmail.com. |
| May 14 | SJBAS meeting – “Turquoise Trade in the Chacoan World and Beyond” by Sharon Hull, PhD, Chaco Culture National Historical Park ranger |
| May 24 | Sand Canyon and Goodman Point Pueblos – Day trip to two Pueblo III villages in Canyons of the Ancients. Difficulty: Moderate. Contact Rusty at chambrke@aol.com. Sign-up begins April 1st. |
| June 11 | SJBAS annual picnic |
| June 23-25 | Ohkay Owingeh Festival – The festival is June 24 but before and after this date we will enjoy other sites in the Santa Fe/Espanola area. Easy. Contact Rusty at chambrke@aol.com. Sign-up begins April 1st. |
| July 9 | SJBAS meeting – “Geographies of the Sacred – Landscapes and rock images that reflect movement and living histories” by Mathew J. Martinez, Executive Director of the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project |
| August 13 | SJBAS meeting – TBD |
| Spring or Fall TBA | Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park camping & work trip. In development. Contact: Tom at atthomas.polich@gmail.com. |
| September 10 | SJBAS meeting – TBD |
| September TBA | Acoma/El Morro – In development. Contact Rusty at chambrke@aol.com. |
| Fall TBA | Gallina Canyon Ranch – Guided hike to Cerrito Cliff Dwelling. Camping or primitive cabin. Difficulty: Moderate to hard. Limit, 16 trekkers. Contact Tish Varney at tishvarney@att.net. Sign-up begins Aug 1st. |
| October 8 | SJBAS meeting – TBD |
| October TBA | Flagstaff – Sedona – Three-day trip that includes Museum of Northern Arizona and Sinagua sites – Palatki, Honanki, and Crane Petroglyph. Tuzigoot National Monument, time permitting. Difficulty: Easy Active. Contact: Hunter at hunter.mccleary@gmail.com |
| November 12 | SJBAS meeting – TBD |
| December 6 | SJBAS annual meeting and holiday brunch at Vallecito Room |
SJBAS Field Trips – Safety and Responsibility
Participants in SJBAS field trips and activities are solely responsible for their own safety. SJBAS field trip organizers are untrained volunteers who plan, organize, and lead the trips, but have no special training or expertise in outdoor safety or hazards and are not responsible or liable for the personal welfare and safety of participants. Each participant is the only expert regarding his or her own abilities. Participants are solely responsible for choosing trips appropriate for their own physical and medical ability; for taking proper clothing, equipment, and provisions; for making appropriate decisions in response to terrain, elevation, and weather; and for understanding the inherent hazards of traveling in the outdoors (such as falls, lightning, hypothermia, heat stroke, dehydration, and injuries caused by others).
Field Trip Difficulty Ratings
Easygoing: Trip is suitable for members in reasonable health who have no problem walking on mostly smooth, relatively flat surfaces up to 1 mile. For example, touring a museum or pueblo, or participating in a walking tour in downtown Durango. Trips generally take place close to roads and support services.
Easy Active: Trip is suitable for active people in good health. Hikes are usually less than 3 miles on well-defined trails, with elevation gains and losses up to 250 feet. Trips generally take place within a few miles of roads, but not necessarily other support services.
Moderate: Trip is suitable for energetic, experienced hikers.Hikes may be up to 5 miles, mostly on established trails that can be rocky and steep in places, with elevation gains and losses up to 800 feet. Trips may take place in remote locations.
Hard: Trip is suitable only for physically fit, strong hikers. Hikes are generally strenuous, may be longer than 5 miles, may be on poorly defined trails or off-trail, with elevation gains and losses greater than 800 feet. Trips often take place in remote locations. Backpacking trips, by their very nature, would be considered “Hard.”
Length: Approximate total length of trip, whether out and back, loop, or through hike
Elevation: Approximate total elevation gain (in most cases there would be a corresponding elevation loss)