IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Day 9: Long Fingers Canyon

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The last day of our 9 day trip had finally arrived and I was looking forward to getting home and taking a real shower. We wanted to make this a shorter day so that we wouldn’t be getting home too late. We broke down camp, had a quick breakfast and then we crossed over Comb Ridge and headed south along Butler Wash. Then we hiked into Long Fingers Canyon and explored all of the alcoves, ruins and rock art that we could find. It was a nice and easy hike with a lot to see and explore. It’s amazing how many large alcoves this short canyon contains!

To the Comb

Hiking along the ‘now closed’ road towards Comb Ridge and Long Fingers Canyon.

White Hands

The first large alcove we came to had a set of white handprints on the back wall.

Red Figure

As we neared the Long Fingers Ruins we passed a number of faint petroglyphs and pictographs. I spotted this faint red anthropomorph high above.

Flying Target

This is certainly one of the more unique petroglyphs I have come across. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was hard to get a good shot of it, but I think this one turned out OK.

Stick Figure

Another of the faint petroglyphs on the way to the ruins.

Pregnant Stick Figure

Here’s another stick figure that has a round middle section….my guess would be representing pregnancy.

Metate Designs

This boulder has a few interesting petroglyphs and a couple of metate grooves.

Jared in the Alcove

Jared exiting the deep alcove below the ruins.

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Day 8: Mule Canyon

Saturday, April 16, 2011

On Saturday we woke up again to yet another cold morning, but thankfully not quite as cold as the previous day. Originally we were planning on staying in our current campsite for the last night, but at the last minute we changed our plans and decided to move to Comb Wash for the last night. We packed up camp and headed over to Comb Wash and then setup camp again. Once camp was set, we headed over to Mule Canyon and were hoping to take a nice leisurely stroll up the canyon for an easy day of exploring……but as I stated before, is seems Jared and I don’t quite know the meaning of an ‘easy day’ because by the time we reached the Jeep again we had hiked over 8.5 miles round trip with a lot of climbing up to ruins along the way.

Of course we visited the House on Fire (Flaming Roof) ruins, and then we continued up the canyon a few more miles searching for other ruins and rock art as we went. I know we missed some of them, probably because we turned around too soon, so I’m sure I’ll be heading back again sometime in the future 😉

Flaming Roof

Curved Flames

House on Fire Overview

An overview of the House on Fire ruins.

Mule Canyon Wall

The next set of ruins we found up the canyon from House on Fire.

Mule Canyon

Jared and the view up Mule Canyon.

High Ruins Overview

A well-preserved set of ruins further up.

High Ruins

A closer look at the ruins since we didn’t even try to find a way up to them since there was no obvious route.

Resting Tree

When we reached the spot in the canyon we turned around at, I stopped to rest in the shade of this tree and took this photo as I lay on the cool sandstone.

On our way back down Mule Canyon we stopped and climbed up to one more site we had skipped on the way up. I’m glad we did, since there turned out to be some cool rock art, too.

Circles and Stripes

The top of the alcove glows bright orange in the background with the large concentric circles in the foreground.

Paint and Petroglyphs

Here we found another painted wall that used to be in the back of a structure. There are plenty of petroglyphs located above the paint, too.

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Day 7: Big Man Panel & Lower Comb Wash

Friday, April 15, 2011

When we woke up on Friday morning it was about 26 degrees out…the coldest morning so far on the trip! We had another quick breakfast and then took off for the Government Trailhead. Soon we were hiking across Pollys Pasture until we reached the Government Trail that drops down into Grand Gulch.

Government Trail

The sign marking the descent into Grand Gulch.

Grand Gulch View

A view over Grand Gulch as we head down the Government Trail.

Once we reached the bottom of Grand Gulch we headed upstream to the Big Man Panel. Along the way we passed a small and well preserved granary on a ledge above us.

Small Granary

Soon we reached the Big Man Panel. We spent some time exploring the area and taking plenty of photos.

Big Man Panel

Big Man Panel Straight On

A closer look at the Big Man Panel.

Big Man Alcove

An overview of the large alcove this panel is found in.

Line of Hands

There were plenty of handprints next to the large anthropomorphs.

Big Man #1

Big Man #2

It was a nice easy hike to reach the panel…..but the hike back out to the trailhead was a bit slower and more tiring…

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Day 6: Moon House & Upper Johns Canyon

Thursday, April 14, 2011

After another very windy and cold night, Jared and I had some breakfast and headed over to the Kane Gulch Ranger station again. We wanted to make this an easy day since we had done a bunch of hiking all week, so we decided to go check out the Moon House Ruins. We had attempted this hike a few years ago (before the permit system was started) but we were unable to find the way down and across McLoyd Canyon to the ruins, so we wanted to finally reach the ruins this time. We arrived at the ranger station at 8:00am and quickly obtained our permit. Then we were soon on our way down the Snow Flat Road to the trailhead.

This time we did end up reaching Moon House Ruins and spent about 2.5 hours exploring the area. We were lucky and had the place all to ourselves. On our way back across the canyon to the Jeep we did eventually meet two other groups of three who were hiking in to the ruins. I guess we got there at a good time 🙂

Outer Wall

The outer wall of the main Moon House ruins.

Moon Snake

What looks like a snake pictograph located above the ruins.

Behind the Wall

A view from behind the outer wall. A very cool and unique place.

Painted

The very unique stripe painted on an interior wall that the Moon House Ruins is known for.

Stripe

A closer look at the paint on the interior wall.

Spiked Snake

Here’s a closer look at the snake-like pictograph from inside the outer wall.

Three Rooms

Three structures next to the main Moon House ruins.

Moon House Rooms

Many old structures make up the Moon House complex.

Striped Roof

An interesting pattern and smoke-stained ceiling.

Round Room

A small round structure found a little ways down canyon from the Moon House Ruins, but on the same ledge.

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Day 5: Sheiks Canyon & The Green Mask

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

We were up before sunrise on Wednesday for a quick breakfast so that we could get a quick hike down into Sheiks Canyon before Dave would have to head back home. First up in Sheiks Canyon was the Yellow House Ruin. The roof beams over part of this ruin still have the yucca lashings with knots tied to the roof beams. It’s a pretty amazing site.

Yellow House

Yellow House Alcove

Yellow House Roof

A good look at the very cool roof structure still intact.

Jared and the Yellow House

Jared takes a photo into the Yellow House.

A little further down the canyon we came across another small ruin.

Welcome Mat

This small structure has a unique step right in front of the doorway.

Ruin & Faint Pictographs

It also has some faint white pictographs located just above, than you can see in this photo.

As we continued down-canyon were a couple of steep talus slopes we needed to descend to get around some big pour-overs.

Sheiks Canyon

A view into Sheiks Canyon as we near Grand Gulch.

Dave and the Gulch

Dave looking down into Grand Gulch from a viewpoint along our hike.

Tucked-Away Granary

A small granary we passed by on our way to The Green Mask alcove.

Once we got near the confluence with Grand Gulch we spotted the Green Mask alcove with it’s ceiling filled with pictographs.

Ceiling Panels

There were a lot of pictographs located near the ceiling of this alcove and out of reach. There are more in the photo below.

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