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 – CANCELLED due to weather 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 |
| 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 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-May TBA | Cottonwood Wash Camping Trip – In development. Contact: Tom Polich at thomas.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 thomas.polich@gmail.com. |
| May 14 | SJBAS meeting – “Turquoise Trade in the Chacoan World and Beyond” by Sharon Hull, PhD, Chaco Culture National Historical Park ranger. Special preview of “Room 33 – A Room with a View into the Past” by Cloudy Ridge Productions. |
| May 22 | Hovenweep Outlier Towers Day Trip. Cutthroat Castle and Holly Tower. We will compare and contrast siting, masonry, function, and occupation periods as each is different. Difficulty: Moderate. Trip participation limit is 10. Contact: Andy Dennison at andrewdennison86@gmail.com. Sign-up begins April 1st. |
| 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 4 | Jackson Castle Day Hike – CANCELLED One-mile hike to pueblo with a dozen kivas and long walls. Difficulty: Moderate. Trip participation limit is 10. Contact Andy at andrewdennison86@gmail.com. Sign-up begins April 15th. |
| 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 – “New Research on the Chaco South Road.” – Dr. Rob Weiner, Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows, Dartmouth College, affiliated with Dept. of Religion. |
| Spring or Fall TBA | Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park camping & work trip. In development. Contact: Tom at thomas.polich@gmail.com. |
| September 10 | SJBAS meeting – “Did Ancestral Puebloan People Raise White Woolly Dogs for Their Hair?” by Dr. Laurie Webster, anthropologist, specializing in the perishable material culture of the American SW, visiting scholar, Dept. of Anthropology, U of Ariz and Research Assoc, Am. Museum of Natural History, and Crow Canyon Arch. Center. |
| Early September | 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 – “Early Tewa occupations and colonial-era Tewa adaptations in the Northern Rio Grande (near Pojoaque, NM)” by Dr. Kaitlyn Elizabeth Davis, Assist. Prof, Dept of Anthropology, NAU. She is also associated with Indigenous Research & Teaching Circle, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. |
| Early October | 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 – “The End of the Mimbres Culture in Historical and Regional Context” by Dr. Thatcher Seltzer-Rogers: Dir. of Business Operations, Deputy Dir., NM Office of Archaeological Studies, Research Associate, Jornada Research Institute. |
| 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)