Cedar Mesa Pot Shards

Hikers in the Cedar Mesa area will often come across pottery shards near the many ruins sites. The Edge of the Cedars State Park museum in Blanding, Utah has a large collection of pottery with interpretive information explaining what is known about the manufacture and styles of pottery pieces that have been found. The presentation here emphasizes the basic colors of gray, white and red.

Grayware pottery gets its color from being fired in a low oxygen atmosphere. The most common were jars, with bowls and effigies being rare. The first Grayware, made from 500-700 AD, were made by building up coils and scraping the surface smooth. Many pieces resembled the dried gourds that were used as containers previously. Later Grayware showed more indented corrugated patterns with the rims of pots became more flaring. Whiteware started about the same time as Grayware. These vessels were painted with a thin white clay wash called a slip, and then painted with black or left white. The early works were deep bowls with a design toward the bottom of the bowl.

Southeast Utah was a center for the production of San Juan Redware from 725 to 1050 AD. After 1050 the center for Redware shifted toward the Kayenta area and the newer styles were imported into southeast Utah. The Redwares were made from similar clays as the Whitewares, with the red color forming as the material was fired in a more oxidizing atmosphere. Abajo Red on Orange was the earliest of the San Juan Redwares.

Bluff Red on Orange was first discovered near the town of Bluff and was widely traded through the Four Corners area. The Deadman’s Black on Red added a polished dark red coating and was also widely traded. There is a good display of representative styles from around the Four Corners. The Chaco, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta styles are shown along with explanations of the differences. Along the trails we only see fragments but with this introduction we can at least make some guesses.

There is a large enclosed display of dozens of pots with a computer display in front. The computer allows the visitor to select a specific pot from the collection and view the details of that pot, such as style and date and in some cases where it was found. Near the main entrance of the museum is a display of discovery stories. Occasionally, a hiker will find a large intact artifact and these stories are told next to the object itself.

Edge of the Cedars Pueblo in Winter

The pueblo ruins site at Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding in southeast Utah is easy to access in winter despite heavy snow.

This is a site that appears to have had three lives. The first occupation lasted from 825 to 950 and the second from 1050 to 1125. In the early 1200s there was some remodeling with the site thought to be vacant during the intervals in between. Then as now there were advantages to this location including the fine views of the nearby Abajo Mountains. The Edge refers to the biological boundary between the sagebrush fields and the Pinon Pine and Juniper forests. The trail here is short and visitors have to pass though the museum to get to the ruins site.

The excavated sections of the site show part of the Great House. About 17 rooms and two kivas are visible. There is an unexcavated Great Kiva on the south side, appearing as a circular depression.

The abutment joints of walls show that the site was remodeled over a period of time. The stones used in building the site are a mix of flat tabular sandstone that had to be carried a long distance and more local chunky rocks. In the chunky layers, small chinking stones were used.

The west kiva has been reconstructed and can be entered by climbing down a short ladder. During the winter, with deep snow on the ground, these deeper structures would have offered shelter from the cold. The fireplace and air circulation features aren’t found in the regular room blocks. This pueblo site is exposed to the elements while many of the other sites to visit in the Cedar Mesa region are sheltered in alcoves. Other open sites in the area are the Mule Canyon site west along Utah Scenic By Way 95, and the Bluff Great House site near the town of Bluff.

There is also a sculpture near the ruins site that replicates some of the archaeoastronomy sites in the southwest. In some locations, spears of light hit spirals or other symbols on the significant days of the solar year. One site that I know of in the region is the panel near the Holly Ruins Group in Hovenweep National Monument. Chaco Canyon is also a site where ancient sky gazers were active.

Cedar Mesa Scenic By-Way Highlights

The southeast Utah Cedar Mesa area looks like a large empty area on a large scale map. Natural Bridges National Monument is out there, west along Scenic By-Way 95, on the way to Lake Powell, but even driving through, the area only looks like a large forest with some canyons cutting through.

Heading west from Blanding, there are no signs that anyone lives here now, but centuries ago there were quite a few residents. The first clue is the roadside Butler Ruins Trail. This is a 0.5 mile interpretive trail to an Ancestral Pueblo ruins site, with the trail guide pointing out a dozen or so of the plants that were available to the people that lived here. There is a small natural bridge near the overlook, but you have to move away from the fenced overlook to see it. The ruins site is on the east side of the sandstone hogback called Comb Ridge that runs north and south for 90 miles. The Butler Wash site is a representative of the many unpublicized sites and trail along the east side of Comb Ridge. At the same trail head, there is another unnoticed trail to the east leading north toward a site called Ballroom Cave.

Continuing west, the road passes through an engineered notch in the massive sandstone wedge and descends toward Comb Wash. At the lowest point, a dirt road runs north and south. About 2.5 miles north along the dirt road is the entrance to Arch Canyon, one of Utah's most scenic canyons. There us a 4WD road traveling up the canyon toward two spectacular arches, Cathedral Arch and Angel Arch. It is a long eight mile hike to see these arches, but in the first ten minutes of hiking there is the large Arch Canyon ruins site. At the same trail head, there is also a trail along the north canyon rim to Hotel Rock, another interesting destination.

Further west is the roadside Mule Canyon pueblo site, well developed for visitors. There is a tower with a tunnel connection to the kiva at this site. We see similar tower and kiva connections at Mesa Verde. The Cedar Tree Tower and Kiva on Chapin Mesa and at Badger House on Wetherill Mesa there are similar connections. This site represents the Ancestral Pueblo culture at its height, spreading across southern Utah. Hardly anyone lives in this area now, yet 750 years ago the area was thriving. Nearby the roadside site are trails up the north and south forks of Mule Canyon. The south fork trail has a site that is very popular with photographers.

The Natural Bridges Monument features three natural stone arches over waterways with a system of trails leading down and between them. There are some ruins sites to find here also, though they are not publicized. The Cedar Mesa area is so rich in trails and hidden ruins sites that much more of its territory could be part of a National Monument. Just to the south of Natural Bridges is the Grand Gulch Primitive Area, another canyon area with trails leading to spectacular views and interesting cultural sites.

Hotel Rock Side Canyon

The Hotel Rock Side Canyon is about 2.5 miles along the Arch Canyon Trail, west of Blanding in southeast Utah. The Arch Canyon trail head is 2.5 miles north along a dirt road from Highway 95 just west of the massive sandstone wedge of Comb Ridge.

The Arch Canyon Trail is a 4WD route that runs for 8 miles to two large arches, Cathedral Arch and Angel Arch. The canyon bottom has year round water and there are Ancestral Pueblo Ruins sites along the way. Near the beginning of the trail is the large Arch Canyon Ruins site, with several standing walls, rubble piles and petroglyphs. At about 1.5 miles, there is a small alcove site that is easy to visit.

The ruins sites tend to be on the south facing side in most locations to catch the winter sun. My hike in early November was on a warm sunny day. I noticed that on the shady north facing side of the canyon, there were still patches of snow from an early season winter storm the previous week. Even though the temperature was very mild, without the sun the microclimate is chilly.

There is another good ruins site at about 2.5 miles, just before the canyon junction with the Hotel Rock side canyon. This site blends into the canyon wall so well that it is easy to miss. The main hint is the side road from the 4WD trail that leads over below it.

Just to the right of the main structure on the same level is a well preserved storage ruin. I noticed the the door of the storage ruin before seeing the main structure. There are additional small wall fragments to the lower right of this upper level pair of ruins.

The Hotel Rock Trail starts at the same trail head as the Arch Canyon Trail and climbs along the north canyon rim to a large rock outcrop with small ruins in a side by side arrangement. Below the Hotel Rock, there is a view of the side canyon that makes a junction with Arch Canyon. I turned up the side canyon, searching for more ruins sites and whatever else might be interesting.

It didn’t look like many hikers or horseback riders come this way. The canyon bottom is walkable but I didn’t see any foot prints or any signs of a trail. The canyon bottom is narrow, without any room for farming fields and I didn’t see any permanent water. I hiked up the side canyon for about 1:00 hour, making about 1 mile and didn’t notice any ruins sites, and didn’t get far enough to get a view of Hotel Rock from below. There weren’t any major obstacles and a hiker could go further than I did, but I didn’t find any good hiking destinations except for wild canyon scenery. My total time on this hike was 4:15 hours for about 7 miles. I carried 3 liters of water on a 60 F blue sky early November day.

Mule Canyon Towers Trail

The Mule Canyon Towers Trail is a 0.5 mile walk along a rough 4WD road to a canyon head site that features several circular Ancestral Pueblo structures. The turnoff from the south side of Utah Route 95 is at mile post 102.2 west of Blanding and Comb Ridge in southeast Utah.

There aren’t any road signs or interpretive information for this site. It is similar to some of the Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients sites along the Utah and Colorado Border with most of the structures perched on the rim at the head of a canyon. There is a spring at the canyon head that provides water to the site. I could hear water dripping down the canyon the whole time of my visit.

The structures are arrayed on both sides of the canyon head. At least four of the circular buildings still have wall sections standing, with several other collapsed rubble piles.

The walking along the rim is easy between the towers. The canyon cliffs are very steep along the edge and there is a deep alcove directly under the poor off at the canyon head. I didn’t see any easy routes down into the canyon here. The upper Mule Canyon area has several other ruins sites near and along Highway 95. A developed pueblo with a large kiva has easy visitor access and the North and South Fork Mule Canyon trails are popular.

Walking along the south facing rim, there are five or six small alcove sites visible. The below the rim area is very ledgy and the sites are on different levels.

I walked several hundred yards east along the south facing rim for different angles of the alcove sites. The cliffs are very steep along the rim and I didn’t see any routes into the canyon above the sites. The tower at the head of the canyon stands out as a lookout point for this community. I noticed one set of small storage ruins across on the north facing canyon side.

The terrain near this site is scattered Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers with sagebrush fields. The canyon area is very deep and rugged but the area surrounding the canyon is mostly level and it would have been easy to travel to the nearby sites and the farming fields. I parked near the Highway turnoff and walked the 0.5 miles to and from the site. I spent about 1:30 hours total here on a 50 F degree early November blue sky morning.

Hotel Rock Trail

The Hotel Rock Trail is a 6 mile round trip along the north rim of Arch Canyon in the Cedar Mesa area of southeast Utah. It is a well known difficult 4WD drive route that is also a good hike to a very scenic small Ancestral Pueblo ruins site.

The trail head is the same as the Arch Canyon Trail. The parking area is 2.5 miles north of Utah Highway 95 just west of the sandstone wedge Comb Ridge, west of Blanding. About 100 yards down the Arch Canyon Trail there is a road splitting off to the right that starts to climb out of the canyon bottom area. There isn’t a sign that identifies this as the route to Hotel Rock. About 2.5 miles along the Arch Canyon Trail there is a large side canyon on the north side that leads toward the Hotel Rock area, but the ruin isn’t visible from below.

The lower part of the route climbs steeply and is fairly easy to follow. In the first mile there is a short side trail leading to the rim with a good view up Arch Canyon. The main route makes a right turn that is easy to miss. I had to search around a little to get back on track. At about 1.5 miles there is a circular turnaround point that is also at a view spot overlooking a short side canyon. It is not immediately clear where the trail continues without looking around. This view point has a small arch on the rim.

The Arch Canyon Trail down below leads to two large arches after about 8 miles. There is also the large Arch Canyon Ruins site in the early part of the trail and several small ruins sites in the canyon walls. The canyon bottom seems to have year round water and the trail crosses the creek many times.

The last 1.5 miles of the way up are more level and pass through Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest. The Hotel Rock formation is visible from about a half mile away and it towers over the surrounding terrain. There are several small structures side by side facing the east and they wind around to the north side and there is another small structure on the west side. There is also a small arch above and to the right of the small structures.

It is easy to get close and look inside. The views from the ruins site back to the east are very good. From this elevated spot, the LaPlata Mountains and Sleeping Ute Mountain are visible on the horizon far to the east. The Abajo Mountains slightly north are clearly visible. The elevation rises about 1200 feet from the trail head, enough to see over the jagged Comb Ridge.

The climb up took me 2:15 hours with stops at the rim view points. I spent about 0:50 minutes looking around the ruins site, including a walk on the west side and looking down into the side canyon there. The return hike took 1:25 hours without any stops for a total hike of 4:30 hours. I carried 2 liters of water on a 65 F degree early October blue sky day. I didn’t see any other hikers or vehicles on the Hotel Rock Trail but there were some groups on the Arch Canyon Trail.

Kachina Bridge Ruins Trail

The Kachina Bridge Trail is 0.75 miles with 350 feet elevation change to one of the three large natural bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeast Utah. On the opposite canyon wall past the bridge opening is a hidden ruins site with many examples of rock art.

The Kachina Bridge is 210 feet high with a span of 204 feet. The top of the bridge is 44 feet wide and 93 feet thick. Along the main trail wall there are some faint petroglyphs. Through the bridge on the upstream side there appeared to be two flute player images. The Kachina Bridge is the middle of three bridges and can be visited directly from the rim or as part of a loop hike from one of the other two large bridges.

The short side trail to the ruins site isn’t pointed out and there is a sandy hill to climb. The site is small and the structures are unusual. There are two circular structures and a small conical storage bin. There is a trail box at the beginning of the site that offers some interpretive comments. The two circular structures don’t show any sign of ever having had roofs, so the site is thought to have had some special use.

This area is rich with pictographs and petroglyphs. There are quite a few red handprints. The sandstone slabs that are in front of the site also have petroglyphs carved into them. The somewhat famous petroglyph that resembles a dinosaur is on the main trail side of Kachina Bridge on the down canyon side. The petroglyphs around the dinosaur are very faint. I didn’t notice it until I looked at my pictures later.