Split Level Ruin

There is a lot to see at the Split Level Ruins and along the way walking there. If you’re a fan of ancient ruins, hand prints, petroglyphs, metates and pottery sherds you are going to like this hike

This hike can take you to two different sets of ruins in a north and south branch of a canyon in Comb Ridge.

In the north branch are the more well-known Split Level Ruins, an assortment of ruins spread over a lower accessible ledge and an upper inaccessible ledge. You will see painted hand prints, hundreds of pictographs, large rocks covered in metates, sharpening marks, pottery sherds, and various cliff dwellings structures. The slower you go, the longer you look, the more you will see at this amazing place.

Doubling back and taking the south branch of the canyon takes you to a smaller set of ruins with a storage cist and more petroglyphs, handprints, and pottery sherds.

Notes

Dogs okay

Getting to the Split Level Ruins

Lower Butler Wash Road runs north/south and can be accessed from the north (from Blanding) or the south (from Bluff)
The turn-off from Lower Butler Wash road is at ( 37.389695, -109.624151 ). 9.6 miles from the south.
From the turn off it’s a short distance to the primitive parking area

Parking ( 37.389291, -109.625579 )

Sandy Area

Distance

2.2 miles total out and back to just Split Level Ruins
3.0 miles total out and back to both Split Level Ruins and the South Canyon Ruins

Route

Hike through the shallow wash and follow the double track across the scrubland toward a grove of cottonwood trees at the base of the ridge.

When you reach the cottonwoods look for the trail marker signs and follow them down into the gully in the trees and up the other side to continue towards the ridge, you will walk in the bottom of the gully and continue on until you reach the hand prints on the right under an overhang at ( 37.3884311N, 109.6357650W ).

From here continue following the trail eventually reaching a large overhanging alcove on the right, interesting but nothing to see in this alcove, keep going just a little bit and on the left there’s a curious object carved out of the dirt of the bank on the left.

Continue through the river bottom following the stream bed little ways and eventually, the path turns steeply uphill, climb up the trail and you’ll be walking along the bottom of the cliff face with a cliff to your right and you’ll start to see the upper ruins easily in front of you. As you get closer to the ruins there are numerous pictographs on a wall that you will pass on your right. You can access the lower ruins by following the ledge past the pictographs.

Southern Canyon Ruins

Return back to the canyon split and this time look for the less obvious trail that continues into the southern canyon branch and follow that for 0.3 miles to the next set of ruins. The trail is faint but you just need to follow the wash.

An alcove will appear on the right not far above the wash, where the small ruins are located. Much of the structure is gone or has collapsed but some interesting wall sections are still intact.

Look for metates used for grinding corn and seeds and some pottery sherds that have been found. Look for a storage cist lined with mud mortar and some handprints.

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