Double Stack Trail at Comb Ridge

The Double Stack Trail is one of the several hikes on the east side of the Navajo sandstone Comb Ridge, a few miles west of Bluff in southeast Utah. I started my hike 3.8 miles north of the south gate on Butler Wash Road, then a short distance west on the side road that leads to the edge Butler Wash.

From this starting point, there is a large alcove visible directly west. I hiked toward the alcove, crossing the overgrown Butler Wash using cow trails, then walking on the sandstone and descending into the drainage. This isn’t the most direct route for finding the Double Stack Ruins site, but makes a loop route and allows for some exploration and good views.

The more direct route is to hike northwest toward the next canyon to the north. The benefit of going directly west is that the upper edge of the visible alcove appears to be an obscure arch.

Climbing out of the canyon to the left of the alcove, I looked to see if I could hike back down the next canyon to the north. That route leads toward the ruins site but has pour over points that looked too risky get around and I climbed back up to the sandstone area between the adjacent canyons. Walking down the bare rocks toward the rim, there is a survey monument at the section corners, helpful if your map shows section corners.


Continuing, I found an overlook view of the Double Stack Ruins and there was an easy route to descend down slightly to the east of the overlook. From above, there are some standing walls on the lower left and an upper level structure to the right.
 

Approaching from the right, there is a line of large boulders surrounding a mound of dirt. The largest wall remaining section appears on the right. There is a large log still in place, supported on the support columns of a kiva.

On the back wall, there is a set of small storage like structures. Above these small boxes are red and white hand prints. I saw one other set of handprints further to the right. The trail in the canyon bottom was visible close to the ruins site but I lost track of it near the canyon mouth. There are at least two conical arrangements of Juniper logs along the canyon bottom trail east of the Double Stack Ruins. Other structures I’ve seen like this were referred to as Navajo sweat lodges, but these could be something else.

My total loop hike took 3:10 hours on a 56 F degree early March day and I carried and drank 2 liters of water. The return hike from the ruins site took about 0:40 minutes, so this can be a short hike if you find the direct route.