November Cedar Mesa & Comb Ridge Trip 2010
Friday & Saturday, November 19-20, 2010
This last weekend was our annual November trip to the Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge area. We set out to check out some new ruins and rock art during the weekend and we were not disappointed. On Friday we both got out of work early and headed south to Blanding. On our way we made a quick stop at the Dewey petroglyph panel for a few quick photos before it got dark.
On our way towards Monticello I noticed a nice pink glow over the La Sal Mountains as the sun was setting, so I pulled over to take a quick picture.
Right after I took that photo, the pink glow disappeared.
After dinner in Monticello we finished the drive to Blanding, checked into our hotel (we’re not into cold weather camping) and got to sleep so we could get an early start the next morning.
We were up well before the sun was to rise on Saturday morning and on our way to Cedar Mesa. Our first destination for the day was Road Canyon, and we arrived at the trailhead just after the sun had come up. Here’s a few photos from our hike through Road Canyon…
Fallen Roof Ruin was high on my list of ruins to hike to, so that was our first stop
Fallen Roof
We continued on down Road Canyon a little further to find a few more ruins.
These ruins had a real ‘fallen roof’
I climbed up to this well preserved granary
Open Door Granary
Found this granary hidden in the wall of the cliff on my way back down
After hiking back up to the Jeep we set off to our next location. We weren’t sure if the roads that we needed to take to get there would be passable, but in the end we lucked out. There were a few sketchy sections covered in ice next to a large drop-off that were a little nerve-wracking, but we were able to make it.
Doll House
The Doll House is the best preserved ruin I have come across
The roof is even fully intact
Amanda took this one of me before we headed out
On our way back to Blanding for some dinner we made another quick stop at the Butler Wash Ruins, since we hadn’t been there for a few years.
Butler Wash Bridge
We also made another quick stop at the Westwater Ruins just outside of Blanding.
Hard to spot in this photo, but that’s the Westwater Natural Bridge
We grabbed some burgers from the Patio Drive-In before making it back to our hotel room for the night. It was a great day!
Sunday to be continued….