House on Fire Ruins       

Bears Ears National Monument consists of over 1.3 million acres and gets its name from the two buttes that rise 2000 feet over the surrounding lands that look like the ears of a bear.

It is bordered by Canyonlands National Park to the north and anchored by Valley of the Gods to the south with Cedar Mesa, the Comb Ridge formation, and Grand Gulch being the main destination for hiking and backpacking.

This area was home to thousands of Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi culture), they thrived here for a time and left their marks on the land through their artwork on the canyon walls, and with granaries and homesites built under ledges almost always built on the north side of canyons in order to capture the solar warming of the sun in winter.

Vallery of the Gods

Some of the sites are easily accessible while many others are more remote and require day hikes or overnight backpacking. This remoteness has helped preserve these sights extremely well and provide those who seek them out an amazing experience that can’t help but connect you with the people who lived here so long ago.

Finding pottery sherds or 900-year-old corn cobs near metates (grinding holes) is not unusual. Just make sure to take nothing but photographs so future generations can enjoy this pristine outdoor museum also.

Signs of the Anasazi culture you will find on your hikes

This is not a place of visitor centers and crowds, but remoteness and wilderness. You will need to be self-sufficient and look out for your own safety as it’s not unusual to be the only visitor for a week in some of the more remote locations.

The main towns to explore from are either Blanding or Bluff. Blanding is 30 minutes drive to the north of Bluff and is larger and has more resources. Bluff is tiny, but is closer to the southern parts of the area and Comb Ridge which is a north-south running ridge filled with ancient Indian rock art and hiking trails.

Bluff has a direct historical connection to the area, being founded by the Mormon pioneers following their epic Hole-in-the-Rock odyssey from 1879. From either town you can easily day trip out into the region to explore.

Grand Gulch and Cedar Mesa
Cedar Mesa is a wooded plateau riddled with small canyons for day hikes and Grand Gultch is a major canyon network for major backpacking adventures as well as shorter day hiking. Both areas were also inhabited extensively by ancient Puebloan Indians and are filled with evidence of their lives with ruins and rock art.