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Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Bears Ears May 2023

 

The first week of May we went to Bluff to explore Bears Ears with a few friends. We stayed at La Pintada Posada for 5 nights which is our favorite lodge in Bluff.


On the drive over we went thru Mexican Hat.




Tuesday our first hike took us west of town about 4 miles to the Airport turnoff. There a short dirt and rick road leads to the edge of lower Butler Wash. The trail down the wash os well marked and the sites along the way are obvious due to use trails.




The trailhead is an area of slickrock on the edge of the canyon. There was an old road leading down into the canyon that was easy to follow.


View down into the canyon



Some wildlife spotted on the way



Pale Wolfberry






Phacelia


A small ruin on a ledge on the way down the wash






Grinding groves at the ruin








a kind of petroglyph I hadn'n seem before.








another phacelia









Looks like an elk


Unidentified fat lizard



When we reached the mouth of the canyon at the San Juan river there were more petroglyphs around the corner.


















These were on the vertical wall. Hard to understand how they were used.













Utah Penstemon on left and Eatons Penstemon on right.



IN the bedrock of the wash was a figure sometimes called the Pig. There were supposed to by carved wolf tracks there too but we couldn't find them.



Very rare plant found on the slickrock where we parked. Phemeranthus Brevifolius 


Lizard on rock


From there we went to the Sand Island petroglyphs. Both lower and upper panels.




Oars?
















































The next day  was the hike to the Citadel. We had tried to get there last year but were turned back by extreme exposure. This time it wasn't so bad. We had a rope just in case.



On the way along the rim is an overlook into the 7 Kivas ruin. this is from the overlook.


The Citadel is located out on this peninsula on the right out of sight.



There was some scrambling on the way out there.


Balanced Bear Faced rock at the Citadel.








The last little scramble up to the ruin










Looking inside one of the rooms

The tricky part with exposure.


The famous Bears Ears which the monument is named for


On the way back the 7 Kivas were in shade and I could see all 7 of them









Eastern Collared lizard


The view into the Valley of the Gods at the foot of the Moqui Dugway.


The dugway



The next few slides are in the Valley of the Gods.











The next day we visited the sites along the West Side of Comb Ridge.



Mariposa lily


This is the ruin at Wolfman Panel that you can see from the edge looking down.






The ramp down to the Wolfman panel












Primroses were blooming



Next we came to the trailhead for the Big Crane panel
It is located on the shaded ledge near upper center of the photo



It is pretty cool and no other petroglyphs are there.


Hiking on slickrock


Very full claret cup cactus

Our next stop was to see Double stack Ruins but we went up the wrong canyon and found this 3 window alcove.
We were able to hike over the top to the canyon where Double Stack is located and see it from on high.





Looking down  on the lower Double stack ruin



Looking across to upper Double stack which is on a high inaccesible ledge.



Wild onion


Phlox


Stone age campsite



After Double stack we headed to Monarch Cave ruins
Small flowered fish hook cactus


Some kind of fleabane


Globe mallow


First view of Monarch Cave. Most of it is roped off so you can't get close.



A pictograph








Hand prints






Broken pottery




On the last day we went to House on Fire and to Natural Bridges national monument

More hand prints at House on Fire.


Brick work at House on Fire.



House on Fire as it appears in photos. It really doesn't look like this.

A wide angle cellphone shot of house on fire.

Then we headed to Natural Bridges to hike to Sipapu bridge and see the others from the viewpoints.


Sipapu bridge. The largest in the park.



The trail down was well constructed with stairs, steps, and ladders.



























Horse collar ruin as seen from the overlook



Same area as Horse Collar


The last bridge.


On the way home Monument Valley in morning light






Milkvetch on the side of the road.


We took a side trip to get a photo of Betatakin ruin at Navajo National Monument.


You can only see it from a far away high overlook. Unless you take a Ranger Walk which I'm not sure they do anymore.


Hogan and sweat lodge exhibit.


Dinosaur track exhibit


Lake Powell drying up.




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