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- Aug 9, 2007
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March 2011
If things had gone better I would be writing this trip report in 4-5 days from now but once again, the weather wins. Read on.
My wife, Audra, is in school working on her MBA so we decided to take an extended vacation over her spring break. I've been going on trips right and left and she has been home studying so this one was going to be whatever she wanted to do. The plan in the works for months was an 8-day trip to the California coast but due to time constraints we had to cancel that and change plans to a 5-day trip through southeast Utah.
The first day we decided to turn what should be a 5+ hour drive into a something more like a 9 hour drive. We made good time to Hanksville but after that we were in sight seeing mode. Audra grew up just north of the Bullfrog Marina so we went down that way to take a trip down memory lane.
The old Ticaboo school yard
Audra went to school in this building most of her life. It is also an LDS church building and the school has since been moved to a new building in Bullfrog.
Casa de Audra. Yes, that's tumbleweed.
The ferry to Hall's Crossing was down for the season. It would have been nice to take it over the lake but then we would have missed so many cool things back on UT 95.
Audra's old house is amongst the many house boats being stored on the right. What a place to grow up!
Highway 276 between UT 95 and Bullfrog is really a fun drive. So many canyons and fun places that are just begging for some exploration. The Henry Mountains look like a lot of fun too. I will be back! This is Maidenwater Canyon bridged by UT 276. Crazy how they built this road over so many canyons like this.
After taking the long detour down to Bullfrog we were back out to UT 95 headed east. We drove through the Sandthrax campground and took a look. After hearing so much about it I had to see it for myself . Turns out there isn't a lot to see there but lots of people. A little further down the road we stopped at the Hite Overlook. If I had my way, Lake Powell would not exist so I take some pleasure in seeing the ramp out of commission.
Hite, Utah
Where the Colorado River dies in Lake Powell.
After driving past canyons called Leprechaun, Blarney, Shillellagh and Shenanigans, I was left feeling a wee bit Irish. Photo by Audra.
Audra's first official jump shot.
Beautiful Utah 95 with the bridge over the Colorado River in the distance.
Bridge over the Dirty Devil River
The bridge over the Colorado River
Once we made it into Cedar Mesa the clouds had taken over. We had been hit with gale force winds all day but it had been mixed with sun. We stopped at the roadside ruins of Mule Canyon and Butler Wash before heading to our hotel.
I was really disappointed that the trail to the Butler Wash ruins keeps you at such a distance. I hiked around a bit to get a closer look but didn't try to get to them.
A nice Natural Bridge next to the Butler Wash Ruins.
I had high hopes of a nice sunset and maybe some shots of the Super Moon but the cloud cover thickened up and didn't let up. The next day we made our way out to hike to the House on Fire Ruin (aka Flaming House) but there was no sunlight and I was afraid the characteristic glow on the wall wouldn't happen. So we decided to save that for another day and hike to Ballroom Cave Ruins and Bullseye Ruins. We were not disappointed. We had these all to ourselves compared to 6 or 7 cars parked at the trailhead to House on Fire. The hike in is short, maybe 20 minutes.
Bullseye was first up but I walked right past the turnoff not paying attention so we decided to go to Ballroom Cave first and hit Bullseye on the way back. We found this alcove and thought it was Ballroom. It's a cool alcove with some definite signs of ancient cultures but I was kind of disappointed.
Grinding stones in the alcove
Luckily on the hike back out I walked around the corner and found the real Ballroom Cave Ruins. At first it doesn't look like much. The alcove appears to be filled with a huge pile of rocks with structures built on and around them.
Notice the long wall at the top of the alcove.
Once you get high enough in the alcove it's clear that there is much more to it. There are ruins on both sides and on this side there is a huge chamber that goes so deep that you can't see a thing without a flashlight.
Selfie behind the long wall at the top of the alcove. Audra was already headed down into the cave.
Audra in the Ballroom
Inside the Ballroom. Notice the alcove on the left has a structure wall in it. The alcove extends goes back another 15-20 feet past that wall. It was pretty much pitch black back there and behind where I'm standing. I had to use some long shutter exposures and high ISO to get any photos.
This is taken standing outside of the wall at the back of the alcove mentioned above.
A very long exposure of the dark alcove.
Climbing down to the other side of the Ballroom Alcove. Some nice ruins on this side including a rectangular kiva with some roof structure still intact.
The Kiva. Notice the inverted handprint and the colorful figures on the wall.
Ancient hand prints
Looking back up at the Ballroom Cave Alcove. Hard to believe there is so much in there.
On the way back down the canyon we hiked to one other small ruin site and then found our way up a small side canyon to Bullseye Ruin. Wow wow wow!
Audra and I below Bullseye
There is a large alcove on the other side of the canyon with some ruins and rock art in it which provide an excellent view of the Bullseye ruin.
Incredible how well this structure has been preserved.
Where Bullseye gets its name. There is a matching petroglyph in the alcove nearby.
Once we got back to the car the sun was gone again and the wind was kicking up pretty hard. We decided to drive over to Natural Bridges where we would have the option to do a good hike or just check out the overlooks if the weather was still bad. Sure enough, the weather was much worse. Sooooo windy. We did the loop through Natural Bridges and checked out the overlooks. We also hiked down the trail to Sipapu Bridge a bit just to get a better view. If you ever decide to visit Natural Bridges I highly recommend planning on some serious hiking. The big loop hike would be a lot of fun but hiking down and then back up from the individual bridges seems like it might not be totally worth the effort.
Stairs on the trail to Sipapu Bridge
The weather was really awful so we decided to take the scenic drive south through Cedar Mesa and down the Moki Dugway. What an awesome road! This is the view from near the top of the dugway. Keep your eyes on the road!
After that we drove back to our hotel as the weather continued to deteriorate. I swear the gusts must have been upwards of 50mph. The next day we were planning on driving into Canyonlands and then up to Moab but after much thought we decided it just wasn't worth it. The next two days were going to be very windy and wet and then the first day the sun came out we would be driving home. Seemed like a better choice to just save the vacation days for next time. This is the forecast that did it in for us.
Just for giggles I checked the forecast for the Point Reyes area where we would have spent a good chunk of our week in California. This made me feel a lot better about the decisions we made.
So an 8-day vacation turned into a 5-day vacation that turned into a 3-day vacation but we still had a great time and I'm now even more excited about more trips to the Cedar Mesa. Less than three weeks til I'm back!
If things had gone better I would be writing this trip report in 4-5 days from now but once again, the weather wins. Read on.
My wife, Audra, is in school working on her MBA so we decided to take an extended vacation over her spring break. I've been going on trips right and left and she has been home studying so this one was going to be whatever she wanted to do. The plan in the works for months was an 8-day trip to the California coast but due to time constraints we had to cancel that and change plans to a 5-day trip through southeast Utah.
The first day we decided to turn what should be a 5+ hour drive into a something more like a 9 hour drive. We made good time to Hanksville but after that we were in sight seeing mode. Audra grew up just north of the Bullfrog Marina so we went down that way to take a trip down memory lane.
The old Ticaboo school yard
Audra went to school in this building most of her life. It is also an LDS church building and the school has since been moved to a new building in Bullfrog.
Casa de Audra. Yes, that's tumbleweed.
The ferry to Hall's Crossing was down for the season. It would have been nice to take it over the lake but then we would have missed so many cool things back on UT 95.
Audra's old house is amongst the many house boats being stored on the right. What a place to grow up!
Highway 276 between UT 95 and Bullfrog is really a fun drive. So many canyons and fun places that are just begging for some exploration. The Henry Mountains look like a lot of fun too. I will be back! This is Maidenwater Canyon bridged by UT 276. Crazy how they built this road over so many canyons like this.
After taking the long detour down to Bullfrog we were back out to UT 95 headed east. We drove through the Sandthrax campground and took a look. After hearing so much about it I had to see it for myself . Turns out there isn't a lot to see there but lots of people. A little further down the road we stopped at the Hite Overlook. If I had my way, Lake Powell would not exist so I take some pleasure in seeing the ramp out of commission.
Hite, Utah
Where the Colorado River dies in Lake Powell.
After driving past canyons called Leprechaun, Blarney, Shillellagh and Shenanigans, I was left feeling a wee bit Irish. Photo by Audra.
Audra's first official jump shot.
Beautiful Utah 95 with the bridge over the Colorado River in the distance.
Bridge over the Dirty Devil River
The bridge over the Colorado River
Once we made it into Cedar Mesa the clouds had taken over. We had been hit with gale force winds all day but it had been mixed with sun. We stopped at the roadside ruins of Mule Canyon and Butler Wash before heading to our hotel.
I was really disappointed that the trail to the Butler Wash ruins keeps you at such a distance. I hiked around a bit to get a closer look but didn't try to get to them.
A nice Natural Bridge next to the Butler Wash Ruins.
I had high hopes of a nice sunset and maybe some shots of the Super Moon but the cloud cover thickened up and didn't let up. The next day we made our way out to hike to the House on Fire Ruin (aka Flaming House) but there was no sunlight and I was afraid the characteristic glow on the wall wouldn't happen. So we decided to save that for another day and hike to Ballroom Cave Ruins and Bullseye Ruins. We were not disappointed. We had these all to ourselves compared to 6 or 7 cars parked at the trailhead to House on Fire. The hike in is short, maybe 20 minutes.
Bullseye was first up but I walked right past the turnoff not paying attention so we decided to go to Ballroom Cave first and hit Bullseye on the way back. We found this alcove and thought it was Ballroom. It's a cool alcove with some definite signs of ancient cultures but I was kind of disappointed.
Grinding stones in the alcove
Luckily on the hike back out I walked around the corner and found the real Ballroom Cave Ruins. At first it doesn't look like much. The alcove appears to be filled with a huge pile of rocks with structures built on and around them.
Notice the long wall at the top of the alcove.
Once you get high enough in the alcove it's clear that there is much more to it. There are ruins on both sides and on this side there is a huge chamber that goes so deep that you can't see a thing without a flashlight.
Selfie behind the long wall at the top of the alcove. Audra was already headed down into the cave.
Audra in the Ballroom
Inside the Ballroom. Notice the alcove on the left has a structure wall in it. The alcove extends goes back another 15-20 feet past that wall. It was pretty much pitch black back there and behind where I'm standing. I had to use some long shutter exposures and high ISO to get any photos.
This is taken standing outside of the wall at the back of the alcove mentioned above.
A very long exposure of the dark alcove.
Climbing down to the other side of the Ballroom Alcove. Some nice ruins on this side including a rectangular kiva with some roof structure still intact.
The Kiva. Notice the inverted handprint and the colorful figures on the wall.
Ancient hand prints
Looking back up at the Ballroom Cave Alcove. Hard to believe there is so much in there.
On the way back down the canyon we hiked to one other small ruin site and then found our way up a small side canyon to Bullseye Ruin. Wow wow wow!
Audra and I below Bullseye
There is a large alcove on the other side of the canyon with some ruins and rock art in it which provide an excellent view of the Bullseye ruin.
Incredible how well this structure has been preserved.
Where Bullseye gets its name. There is a matching petroglyph in the alcove nearby.
Once we got back to the car the sun was gone again and the wind was kicking up pretty hard. We decided to drive over to Natural Bridges where we would have the option to do a good hike or just check out the overlooks if the weather was still bad. Sure enough, the weather was much worse. Sooooo windy. We did the loop through Natural Bridges and checked out the overlooks. We also hiked down the trail to Sipapu Bridge a bit just to get a better view. If you ever decide to visit Natural Bridges I highly recommend planning on some serious hiking. The big loop hike would be a lot of fun but hiking down and then back up from the individual bridges seems like it might not be totally worth the effort.
Stairs on the trail to Sipapu Bridge
The weather was really awful so we decided to take the scenic drive south through Cedar Mesa and down the Moki Dugway. What an awesome road! This is the view from near the top of the dugway. Keep your eyes on the road!
After that we drove back to our hotel as the weather continued to deteriorate. I swear the gusts must have been upwards of 50mph. The next day we were planning on driving into Canyonlands and then up to Moab but after much thought we decided it just wasn't worth it. The next two days were going to be very windy and wet and then the first day the sun came out we would be driving home. Seemed like a better choice to just save the vacation days for next time. This is the forecast that did it in for us.
Just for giggles I checked the forecast for the Point Reyes area where we would have spent a good chunk of our week in California. This made me feel a lot better about the decisions we made.
So an 8-day vacation turned into a 5-day vacation that turned into a 3-day vacation but we still had a great time and I'm now even more excited about more trips to the Cedar Mesa. Less than three weeks til I'm back!
