Day 19: Bluff, Utah day 1: hike to Moonhouse

After a good night's rest and a quick review of the weather, we decided to stay another night at the Desert Rose Inn. We got ready at a leisurely pace before heading out for our first hike. We were armed with detailed maps and incredible directions from Drew and Carrie. The sites that Drew and Carrie recommended are not on the maps, and they’re not marked with trailheads either. They seem to be passed on through word of mouth. Luckily, Drew and Carrie thought we were cool enough to get to these incredible ruins, and so shared their maps and information.
We drove out to the BLM land, which is huge. It had a paved main highway through it with all of these dirt roads or paths shooting out from it. Some were labeled some were not. The paved road turned into a dirt road through the mountain climbs. The views were stunning; the rocky mountains and canyons seemed to go on forever.

After about 20 miles on the main road, we turned off onto a bumpy dirt road. 4-wheel drive seems like it would be mandatory out here. Drew said to avoid the roads when they were wet, and you could see why. The rocks and red dirt could really turn slick. Despite growing up in Colorado, and so having plenty of snow driving experience, Drew said he slid Carrie’s Subaru 30 feet in the rain.


We followed the dirt road for what seemed like a very long time. I think it probably took about an hour to go about 8 miles. We parked in a little pull out, where there happened to be a little podium with a self-pay box and a billboard with a few facts about the area. There clearly is a ruin site near here, as the postings give a few facts about the Basketweaving people who inhabited the area from 1070 to 1200 AD. However, there was nothing on the road or the map to mention this. It seems to be set up so that if you know where you’re going you can find these incredible historical sites.
Before setting out on our hike, we made ourselves a hearty lunch. All of our camping stuff is in the car, so it’s easy to stop off on these deserted roads to cook a meal. We had skipped breakfast, and so had a hearty lunch of salami sandwiches and top ramen soup out there in the open space. There was literally not a soul around; the only evidence of other beings was the coyote tracks.



We hiked the flat desert-like landscape for about a mile before we found ourselves at the edge of a canyon.


Sure enough, across the canyon were some rock dwellings built into one of the cliff’s layers. Next came the tricky part of the hike: we had to climb down the canyon, cross the ravine, and climb up the other side to view the ruins. Thank God I went to the climbing gym with Clint a few times, the experience gave me a bit more confidence for the descent. As I mentioned before, there was no trail, but we did spot a few cairns (rock stacks) that seemed to be placed at the best places to climb up or down.
Once down, there was only a little bit of water in the ravine, which we easily jumped over.




Finding our way up was harder than we anticipated. We climbed up a tree, which had been used as a ladder, but once up to the first layer, we couldn’t find our way up to the next layer. We had to climb back down and retrace our steps along the water before finding another way to climb up.


I cannot describe how it felt to get up to the ruin, but I suppose I’ll try. It’s so rewarding after a little bit of climbing and hiking to find a pristine site that hasn’t been roped off and surrounded by tons of photo-snapping tourists. We felt like archeologists, and yet the site was a sure thing.







It turns out that we should have obtained a special permit to be out here, but we really had no idea since there weren’t really signs, and there were certainly not people.



Once learning about the permit, we got pretty nervous and so hurried through the site. It gives one hope in humankind to find such an old site in such good condition. No ropes, no entrance fee, no graffiti.
Climbing back up the canyon was easier than the way down, and we made it back to the car without any trouble. It was dark by the time we got back to Bluff, and we opted for a dinner of backpacking macaroni and cheese in our hotel.