Saturday, November 29, 2008
The original goal for this trip was to spend most of the weekend hiking to Anasazi ruins on Comb Ridge. However, after hiking a few miles we realized we were a little more out of shape than we had thought 😉 So we didn’t exactly spend the whole weekend hiking. Luckily we had the Jeep with us so we could still do some exploring 🙂
On Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed south towards Bluff and made it to Butler Wash road just as the sun was starting to come up. Our first destination was the Wolfman Petroglyph Panel. Reaching the panel from the trailhead required only a short hike.
Comb Ridge in the background…parked at the Wolfman Panel trailhead
Part of the trail along the cliff face
Wolfman Petroglyph Panel
After making it back to the Jeep we headed further north along Comb Ridge and started our hike to Monarch Cave ruins.
Monarch Cave ruins with the narrow and off-camber path to reach them
Closer view
Hand prints above us
The view back down the canyon we hiked up
After hiking back to our Jeep, we had an early lunch and headed yet further north to our next destination. Our next goal was Fishmouth Cave. This canyon contained a few alcoves with ruins in them.
Fishmouth Cave in the distance
A few of the ruins we found along the way.
After completing the hike, we were pretty worn out and decided to stick to the backroads in the Jeep for the rest of the weekend. We started out by taking Deckers Road back to US 191 and looping back through Bluff on our way to Valley of the Gods.
We came across this section of road that was built right over the carcass of an old car.
Setting Hen and Rooster Butte in Valley of the Gods
A few more pictures from Valley of the Gods
The washboard road through Valley of the Gods was terrible! After making it back to the pavement, we were right next to the Moki Dugway, so we took the short drive up to the top and back down again.
Next we took a short trip down Mexican Hat Road which ended at the San Juan River.
Mexican Hat Rock
San Juan River
…and finally before heading back to Blanding for some dinner we went back into Valley of the Gods to try and get a nice sunset picture. Unfortunately, the sky didn’t cooperate with me….but here’s a couple of pics anyways.
