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| Butler Wash Ruins |
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| Butler Wash Ruins |
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| View Southeast from Ruins |
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| Trail Scenery |
Butler Wash Ruins are cliff dwellings that were built and occupied by the
Ancestral Puebloans, sometimes known as Anasazi, in about 1200 AD. Part of the ruins have been stabilized and reconstructed, but most of it
remains as it was found in the 1800s. There are houses, storage and
ceremonial structures, including four kivas. These ruins are located in a
side box canyon of Butler Wash, on the northeast side of Comb Ridge in Bears Ears National Monument. The paved trailhead is located 2 miles east of the Highway 95 cut through Comb Ridge.
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| Rock-lined Trail |
The hike is only one mile out and back. So, after a pretty good workout at the Moon House Ruins earlier, four hikers decided to stop for a look on the way back into Blanding.
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| Ruins from Observation Fence |
There are restrooms located at the trailhead and the trail is very well marked with cairns and lines of rocks. The trail begins by going through a walk-through zigzag live stock gate.
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| Ruins down Canyon |
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| Ruins with Natural Bridge (upper right) |
The trail makes its way over to the edge of a sandstone cliff within the northern end of Comb Ridge on top of lightly colored sandstone. There is a fence surrounding an observation area where you can view the ruins across the large box canyon of Butler Wash. If you are surefooted, you can wander around this area on sandstone to get different views and to see, up close, the natural bridge that sits above the end of the canyon. There is probably a great waterfall here when it rains! We got our fill of the views and returned to the trailhead. This is an easy way to finish off a day of hiking in Bears Ears.
1 mile; 200 feet elevation gain; 45 minutes
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| View down Butler Canyon Wash |
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| Happy Hikers |
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| Returning to Trailhead |
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