Blue Mountain Shadows: Beef Basin to Cedar Mesa

Southern Utah Wanderings | Friday – Friday, October 1-8, 2021

This year for our annual week-long trek into Southern Utah, Jared and I started out in the Beef Basin area and then we explored our way over to Cedar Mesa. It has been a while since either of us had spent much time around Beef Basin and I was also really hoping that we would be able to spend some quality time around the Dark Canyon Plateau and Elk Ridge areas along the way. The trip started out great and we found plenty of new rock art and ruin sites, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us on the second half of this trip and we had to change our plans multiple times because of storms and slick muddy roads. At one point we even stopped to help winch a truck back onto the road that was sliding off. One of the unexpected benefits of the poor weather was that it chased us closer to the Abajo Mountains than we were originally planning to go, and they were in peak falls colors at the time! At the end of the week we found out that President Biden was restoring the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, which was fitting since we were sitting in camp within the newly restored boundary. I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of this trip, so please enjoy plenty of photos from our journey below.

 

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On our first morning of the trip we watched the sunrise from this amazing view over The Needles.

Of course we had to revisit one of my favorite little granaries while we were in the area.

A faint, but fairly large geometric design carved into a canyon wall.

The Overhang Site

We stopped to have lunch nearby and then hiked to to this Ridgetop Ruin.

There was even a T-Shaped Door still standing.

Knob Petroglyph Panel

Alcove Abstract

This was a really nice ruin hidden on a ledge that we almost missed.

There was no shortage of potsherds this week, and here’s a few nice designs.

Square Arch

I’m not sure how I missed this one before since I’ve been in the area a couple of times…

I’ve always liked this double-decker ruin.

Here’s a closer look at the ruin on top.

The designs of these large faded circles were really interesting.

House Park Butte

Carved Rock Ruin

This tree growing out of the wall was pretty cool.

Looking for ruins on a ledge in the early morning.

Dots Over Ruins

West Fork Bridge

Mushroom Rock

Hidden Ledge Ruin II

A smoky view over Beef Basin and the greater Canyonlands region.

 

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We almost walked right by this hidden alcove that contains an old hitching post and some pictographs.

This was the largest figure painted on the wall of the alcove.

These crude drawings appear to be Fremont in design.

This might be the tiniest reverse-handprint I have ever seen.

 

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From a distance I thought the small ruin in the lower right was normal sized and the rest of the ruin was massive. I was wrong, but was also surprised to see such a tiny room and doorway. I wonder what it was for?

The Tiny Room

We found this broken handle nearby, with plenty of other large potsherds around, too.

Around the corner this narrow ruin was built up into a crack.

The roof inside had an interesting construction to fit in the narrowing crack.

 

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I was happy to return to The Fortress, this time we came from a different direction.

Aesops Arch is a really good one!

 

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With a storm in the forecast and our vehicles getting low on fuel, it was time to get off of the Dark Canyon Plateau a day or two early and head back to town. We took the scenic route…

Seven Sisters Buttes & Cathedral Butte

Round Mountain

Last light on the ridge.

After spending a night among the Chippean Rocks, we were treated to a nice sunrise the following morning as we continued on.

The fall colors were spectacular as we drove around the southern end of the Abajo Mountains.

We caught a glimpse of the Bears Ears on the horizon to the west.

Since we were in the area, we went on a short hike to visit a ruin tucked away high in an alcove.

High Ruins

It was a very colorful walk…

 

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After the storm had passed we drove up onto Elk Ridge to see how bad the road were. They were pretty muddy and slick, so we turned around and returned to some lower sites near better roads.

Red Snake Alcove

The Under Ruins

There was a good look at the floor construction in this ruin.

A well-used grinding stone.

I liked the stripes in this alcove, even if the ruins weren’t in the best shape.

A lovely walk across the sandstone. Maybe you can spot the ruins?

 

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It’s been a long time since I visited the Arch Canyon Ruins and I didn’t really remember much about them, so I thought it would be a good idea to return.

There are a lot of large spirals carved here.

Arch Canyon View

Beaver Pond Ruins

Six baby footprint pictographs that are a bit hard to see and photograph.

 

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A view of Comb Ridge as we climbed up a steep trail to a large cave from Comb Wash.

The view from inside the cave.

At the very back of the cave were some large stalagmites.

 

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I decided it was finally time to get a closer look at these popular ruins.

 

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Toward the end of the week we went on a couple hikes on Cedar Mesa in search of ruins, and we found a couple…

I love how well the two doors on these ruins blend in.

I find it a little funny that the door is still in place on this ruin, even though the wall is mostly gone.

 

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This ruin was a bit interesting since it had a long row of dots in the mortar on the side.

Here’s a closer look at the dots.

The Other Side

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