Four Corners Region
February 18, 19 & 20
2022
This adventure was Fun Fast Thrilling
I got out of work a little bit earlier and drove straight to Bluff. This is a 5+ hour drive and after working for 7 hours, I was not looking forward to the long drive. Yet, after I got through Spanish Fork Canyon and saw the clear desert sky, I began to get more and more excited about my adventure this weekend.
I was planning on camping at Sand Island Campground at Bluff and use that as my basecamp. I got to the campsite at about 8 pm and it was COLD! I was very prepared though and was looking forward to dinner and sleep.
The night before, I baked a few potatoes and planned to make a cheesy sausage and mashed potato dinner for my first night camping. The dinner turned out delicious and only took about 10 minutes to cook. After dinner, I got my tent set up and went jumped in my sleeping bag around 9:30pm. I was looking forward to doing some reading tonight, but decided to just go to bed instead.
My campsite was right next to the San Juan River and I loved falling asleep to the rapids making nice white noise!
I was surprised! I only woke up two times and woke up finally by about 7am. I usually sleep terribly on the first night of camping, but I was happy I slept through most of the night.
After the sun began to hit my tent, I got up and packed for the day. I wanted to get an early start, because I would be spending the entire day hiking and exploring.
My first stop was going to be a scouting trip using my drone. I found some large ruins in a dry wash and they ending up being fantastic! I will have to come back and explore more.
The next stop was exploring a butte where I suspected some ruins would be located. On the way to the butte, I found two dead cows on the side of the road. The butte ending up being a fun adventure where I found pottery shards, petroglyphs, and ruins! You can read more about it here: Nameless Butte Ruins.
I then stopped and flew my drone to a circular ruin I saw.
After this I went to a gas station in Bluff to fill up my car and to grab some lunch. After lunch I drove to my next destination to hike to some Moki Steps!
Next I would be driving up through Moki Dugway up to my next stop: hilltop tower!
After this there wasn’t much time left in the day even though I had about four things left on my list. I decided to checkout some ruins near the highway since I knew it wouldn’t be a long adventure.
The last thing on my list today was to go to Cave Tower. This incredible tower is in excellent condition despite the vandalism, visitors, and the 1000 year old construction. It was very quiet during my visit and there was kind of an eerie feeling in the air too. When I got to the tower I was taking a video and suddenly I just felt like I needed to get out of there right at that moment. I looked around and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the sudden change made me on edge.
I pushed the feeling away and got out my drone to scout out the area more. I then got the same feeling to get out of there as fast as I could. I was wondering if there was a cougar watching me or a black bear that would be coming through the canyon soon – I don’t know! But, I knew that it was time for me to head out. I packed up and hiked up to my car.
I got to my car and it was nearing sunset. The drive back to Bluff would be about another hour. It was supposed to be windy and snowing tonight and I just wasn’t in the mood to camp. I found a really good rate at a local hotel and relaxed the rest of the night!
I woke up early and looked out the window and saw lots of dark clouds and wind. I knew I didn’t have much time today to see everything I had planned. I packed up everything just in case I would be ending up my day somewhere else and headed out to my first stop.
My first stop was at the northern eastern part of Comb Ridge. I found a large square ruin and made the long drive up through Blanding then west to see it.
The ruin was really neat even though it was just crumbled rock at this point. It was most likely a very large and tall structure originally.
The wind was beginning to pick up so I went down to see these two tower ruins and tried to hurry before the storm would hit. The drive was on a nice graded dirt road so it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t want to get caught in a torrential downpour. I had my satellite messenger so I was at least prepared.
The two towers were really neat! Both were at the tops of hills overlooking every direction.
I then went and hiked Cave Towers, which I highly recommend! This has turned out to be one of my favorite places in Cedar Mesa.
After this I noticed the sun was peeking through the clouds and I felt like I could do one last hike before heading out. House on Fire ruin is near Cave Towers and I thought it would be the perfect way to end my day.
House on Fire is probably one of the most popular sites in Cedar Mesa. People love it because it’s easy and the way the sandstone is around the ruin makes it appear that the ruin is on fire. I parked my car and ate a sandwich.
There were already a few cars at the trailhead. I was putting water in my backpack when I saw this guy (he’s in the blue jacket in the picture below), running down the road towards my car. He looked a little panicked and I thought he would be needing help or something.
When he got closer I asked him if everything was alright. He looked at me and kept going to the House on Fire trailhead. I asked him again if he needed any help and he just kept going up the trail. I thought that was kind of strange, so I turned on my GPS tracker and shared it with my girlfriend just-in-case something happened to me along the way…
This hike was nice and easy and another one that I recommend. I got closer to the actual ruin and saw that same man, this time walking slowly. I said a “howdy” and he looked at me again and kept walking. I have no idea what this man was doing or why he was ignoring me, but he just seemed strange.
The House on Fire ruin was really neat. I was happy to finally check this one off my list.
Coincidentally, the rain and snow began to fall and I headed to my car. I sped away into the late afternoon and made it to Moab right before the hardest rain and snow hit. I stopped for dinner and then continued home!
Here is the snow storm that happened!
