Bears Ears National Monument

Bears Ears National Monument was established by President Obama in December of 2016 by presidential proclamation after being petitioned by a Native American Coalition consisting of the Dine, Zuni, Hopi, Ute and Ute Mountain Tribes. The area within the original designation of the Monument is largely undeveloped backcountry, liberally peppered with thousands of ancient Native American sites and structures, this history needs to be protected before it is lost or overrun and destroyed by visitors unfamiliar with the dangers of hiking, camping and off roading near archeological treasures.

The first volunteer position of our journey brought us to the Bears Ears Education Center or BEEC (pronounced beak) run by the Friends of Cedar Mesa, which was established to "Protect and build respect for the cultural and natural landscapes of the greater Bears Ears region". It is where we first learned about no trace hiking and camping as well as where we got our first real taste of what the high desert was all about. Through Friends of Cedar Mesa we were able to meet and talk with Tribal Elders to hear and see how they are still spiritually and ancestrally attached to these lands.

Volunteering at the BEEC in Bluff UT gave us the chance to experience Bears Ears like locals. The information on trails from experienced backcountry hikers was invaluable, and the Visit with Respect information they provide really helps you understand why this land and these sites are so important, and how to keep them preserved for future generations.

We arrived in Bluff in the spring and arrived during one of the snowiest winters in decades. While all the rain and snow in the desert definitely surprised us at first once the snows all melted and ran down the washes we got to see the desert with more vegetation that it's had in years.