Memorial Day | Monday, May 31, 2010
On Memorial Day we packed up camp and headed a short ways down Comb Wash to check out some ruins in Lower Mule Canyon.
There were a few petroglyphs here as well.
After spending some time hiking and exploring Lower Mule Canyon we headed over to Upper Butler Wash and hiked to a number of ruins starting with the Target Ruins.
They were very well preserved.
The pictograph that gave these ruins their name is partially hidden and only visible from the other side of the canyon looking across at the ruins.
Across the canyon from the Target Ruins was another alcove that contained some ruins as well.
There was a small arch located at the top of this alcove.
Next to the large alcove was a much smaller one that we scrambled up into.
Jared under the Target Ruins
We continued up Upper Butler Wash to visit the Ballroom Cave.
Behind this wall was the entrance to the large Ballroom Cave.
There were some nice ruins here as well.
Even some faint pictographs.
After hiking a little further up the wash, we came to another large alcove that required a ladder to get into.
Jared checking out the ladder.
The ladder wasn’t quite tall enough, so some minor climbing was involved to get up into the alcove. I didn’t climb up into the alcove, and Jared had run out of room on his memory card, so I handed him my camera and he took the next few pictures of the ruins.
Jared grabbed this photo of the inscription A.E.S. in the alcove. Based on my research, it appears that this inscription was more than likely left by a ride for the Lacey Cattle Company, which was an early outfit that came to Southeast Utah around 1880. Lacey was often shortened to the letters ‘LC’ and if you look closely, you can see the LC below the A.E.S.
Poking my head up into the alcove for a peek.
We continued up the wash to one last small alcove where there were a few minor ruins, but nothing compared to the previous ones.
After hiking back to the Jeep we made our way to Monticello for some lunch before heading home to end the weekend. Aside from the biting bugs, we managed to have another great Memorial Day weekend along Comb Ridge 🙂