The Butler Wash Ruins Trail is a 0.5 mile interpretive route across high desert and bare sandstone to an overlook of a well preserved cliff dweller Ancestral Pueblo site. It is located west of Blanding, Utah along scenic byway Utah Route 95 in southeast Utah on the way toward Natural Bridges National Monument.
One of the features of the area that isn't pointed out and not visible from the overlook is the small natural bridge or arch to the north of the view point.Moving to the left about 100 feet to a rocky point and looking back to the north the opening becomes visible. The terrain near the ruins overlook is almost solid sandstone with small pockets of soil supporting very sparse vegetation.
Turning your gaze to the left, it appears that the residents of the ruins would have easy views of the arch. During storms it looks like drainage from above would come pouring through the opening and free fall into the canyon below.
Walking over the exposed rock for about 100 yards to the north, the arch can be viewed from the other side. This view shows how lush the living area is compared to the area above.
Climbing up a little higher on the sandstone, there are good view of the lower Butler Wash and Comb Ridge area. I walked about an additional half mile past the overlook and circled around to the west for a total hike of about 1 hour.
There is no marked trail up above but there are mostly smooth surfaces to walk on. There are also steep drop offs to steer clear of.
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