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| Moki Dugway |
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| Fallen Roof Ruins |
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| Fallen Roof Ruins Landmark Hoodoo |
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| Dropping down to Road Canyon |
On the third day of the road trip, the assignment was to travel from Page, AZ to Blanding, UT. Originally, this was going to include Natural Bridges NM, however, a few weeks prior to the trip, SR 95 was closed due to a bridge failing over Cottonwood Wash. We no longer had time to travel up to the park and reach Blanding that night. So, we made our way up Moki Dugway to the Bears Ears' Cigarette Springs Road and drove out ~3.5 miles to the Fallen Roof Ruins Trailhead. There was one place on the dirt road that gave us pause as the muddy road appeared to be slowly falling down the side of a hill. We drove through anyway and lived to tell about it! We found the trail and started toward the rim of Road Canyon. We dropped down following cairns and bits of trail until we came to a pourover into deep water.
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| Viewing into Road Canyon |
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| Upper Road Canyon |
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| Fallen Roof High Trail |
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| Road Canyon |
Taking note of recent footprints, we zigged here. Might should have zagged. Anyway, this led us a long way around to the side of the canyon with the ruins. No matter. We found the ruins right where I had left them a couple of years ago up on the side of the canyon under overhanging rock. These ruins are named for the fact that a ceiling layer of rock had fallen on the rock floor beneath it. You can see this in the second photo. After taking our group photo here, we followed the trail around that level of sandstone above the cliffs to the granary ruins. This trail has some exposure. We took our photos and returned to the house ruins. When we had our fill of ruins, we returned to the cars on the same trail we had followed in.
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| Scrambling up to Ruins |
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| Climbing to Fallen Roof Ruins |
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| Fab Four at Fallen Roof Ruins |
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| Handprints on Ceiling |
The high trail was not difficult to follow but it was a longer version of the lower trail I had followed two and a half years ago. Remember that when you visit ancient ruins such as the Fallen Roof Ruins, you must not displace anything that you find. Don't try to enter the ruins in fear of breaking the old mud walls. Don't remove any artifacts that you happen to notice. Don't eat your snacks in the area of the ruins. And, don't use the area of the ruins for your bathroom. These ruins have lasted a millennia and it would be very nice if they last for another 1000 years.
The Fallen Roof Ruins is an excellent example of ancient Puebloan, or Anasazi, dwellings and granaries that date back to the period between 1060-1270 CE when they inhabited this area.  |
| Trail to Granaries |
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| Granaries |
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| Climbing Out |
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| Trail to Cars |
... Soot marks on the ceiling would indicate these rooms were used as both a living space and granary for storing food. ~photographerstrailnotes.comWe returned to the cars and drove back to SR 261. Just before we reached the Moki Dugway again, we turned right to drive 3 miles out to the Muley Point Overlook.
Stats: 4 miles; 650' gain; 3.25 hours
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| Muley Point Overlook |
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| Old Cemetery in Bluff, Utah |
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| War Veterans Graves |
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| Bluff Fort Museum |
Back from the photo op at Muley Point, we drove back down Moki Dugway and headed to Bluff, UT. We wanted to eat at the Twin Rocks Cafe but it was closed that day due to a family funeral. We were told to kill some time at the old Bluff cemetery and the Bluff Fort Museum before going to eat at the Cottonwood Steakhouse that opened at 5pm. That was all good advice and that's what we did! We finished the day by driving up to Blanding for the night.
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| Original Wagon from the building of the Hole-in-the-Rock Road |
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| Museum Display |
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| Museum Display |
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