Arch Canyon and Walnut Knob
Arch Canyon has ruins and three arches, explore Walnut Knob to see amazing petroglyphs of hunting parties and game
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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
The Split Level Ruin is a large site, spread between a lower accessible ledge and an upper inaccessible ledge.
You will see painted hand prints, hundreds of pictographs, large rocks covered in metates for grinding corn, sharpening marks, pottery sherds, and various cliff dwellings structures.
This is a place where you want to take your time, as the slower you go, the longer you look, the more you will see at this amazing place.
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
9.7 miles from the south entrance to Lower Butler wash road from Highway 163
Distance
2.2 miles total out and back
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.
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