We’re in Southeastern Utah. We have spent the morning climbing up a long ascent on the cliff side of Comb Ridge. We had been looking for an ancient tower in vain, but luck gave us some guidance from two strangers. We have just gotten our first glimpse of the structures in this remote canyon, as our story continues.
There is a huge spillway above that makes a waterfall in wetter weather and behind the imagined waterfall is a tower built into the rock. This is the two story structure that we have been looking for.
The plan is to get out early and quickly. We prepared last evening before bed for an earlier start. It may be a long day. We want to take advantage of the cliff shadow’s shade up the long hill.
We are climbing a 1200 foot, two mile cliff side road. It is the old main road to Colorado, which we are told, is now abandoned and in disrepair. As the day rolls on, the old travel route will reveal itself as a challenging 4×4 nightmare.
Somewhere up there are two ancient interests, a distinct petroglyph and a ruin that still displays a tower.
We’re off to explore north of Arch Canyon, along the rock slope west of Comb Ridge, Utah. I’ve been aligning a series of canyons, what I can see, with lines on a crude map. On the map, there is marked a cave, pictographs and ruins in a few of the several canyons. Which canyons are which, at this point I’m reasonably sure about, but heading north through the canyon on winding roads, trails may get confusing.
Then, there is a blank piece of the knowledge. I have no information about any trails, or routes to get to each canyon. There may be none. We’ll have to keep an eye out for any clues along the way. We may even find ourselves bushwhacking.
It is Memorial Day Monday, the end of the long festive getaway weekend. People are packing up, for their return to working lives. They are savoring the last walks, final drives, the moments before leaving their good time playgrounds. It is quieter, a calm is returning, passersby are much less frequent.
Memorial Day, I begin to think about my dad, the soldier, sadly, but proud and respectful.
By dinner’s end, we are feeling less impinged. The softer light permeates. Heat is turning progressively down to perfect warmth. Everything seems to mark the close of the holiday.
There is a sense of expanding freedom. We can relax easier in our nudity and stretch out of our hiding boundaries, safe to walk and wander.
There is in my guidebook, a reference to some ruins. They are somewhere on down the road that leads from our camping area, here where the creek empties out into the valley at the base of Arch Canyon. There is an old trail, a dotted line, probably another 4×4 route, leading up the stone surface. It is probably a good long hike on a less busy day, an ancient route, now marked by rubber skids and rubble.
There is “the old Perkin’s Ranch” a landmark. There is the symbol mark for ruins. As best as I can cipher, it is at the top of what is referred to as a nipple. I suspect it may be at the peak of an attention grabbing hill that I have spent time looking at, even curiously searching its nature with binoculars for details. It looks like a short walk. I’d like to see if I got it right.
Many people have not heard of Bears Ears National Monument. It is 2,120 square miles of remote southeastern Utah.
During eight years the interested parties, forged an agreement which would respect all stakeholders’ needs. President Obama made the monument official in 2016. At last the Native American heritage, archeology and paleontology would be protected along with the wildlife and the iconic geology. The future of the exploitation of the oil and uranium, although not currently viable, would be preserved. Tourist traffic would be regulated to avoid destruction and overcrowding. Cattlemen were accommodated. It was to remain a huge playground of various public recreation.
President Trump crushed the agreement when he reduced the size by 85%. The firm, Energy Fuels Resources, lobbied Interior Department officials to shrink the boundaries of the monument. This mining company with influence, wanted to process uranium on site in a location inside the monument, not just remove it. Also, I was given a sheet of very obviously fearmongering propaganda from the Chamber of Commerce while making a purchase at the local Blanding drug store. The nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument was also reduced, by about 800,000 acres.
Obviously, compromise gives solutions. It can also mean something that all parties wouldn’t prefer. Yet, “give some, get some” is more often a fair and democratic end. Aggressive business and that money tend to disregard and override other stakeholders concerns and rights.
President Biden reestablished the birth of the Bears Ears protections when he took office. The results of Donald Trump’s attitudes and actions as president are now court battles, delays and bog down in the implementation of protections. Without protections our heritage can be carried way and destroyed. A dinosaur can be extracted for profit with no regard for the science. History and the understanding of all people’s heritage and cultures are robbed and lost forever. We could see how fast and brazenly that has happened by just our relatively short visit. We were told unsettling stories from the memories of local people. I’ll also insert something about the dino details of considerable wealth, at the end of this article.
It is a huge area and judging that it is too big is an argument from the contrarians. The fact is, we being two of the relatively few, the small percentage, who have actually visited past a drive through and a stop, know how rich and plentiful the seemingly barren yet beautiful landscape is. Treasures are everywhere and we hope to convey a sense of that wide-eyed wealth to you, as this series progresses. To share with you what is yours. The protections of a National Monument are worth it; just the antiquities are so very numerous. It is not just barren real-estate with little use in the middle of nowhere. It is not an overzealous land grab. Its merits are astounding and precious and everywhere. It is just greedy, ignorant and wrong, to instill a lack of protections and to allow theft from future generations and we of the present.
This of course isn’t the more pressing issue of the coming elections. This situation is a symptom of larger movements of power and many American’s opinions differ about those. No matter where you sit politically, it is a clear and certain fact that the fate of the whole of Bears Ears is in the balance. DF and I are deeply saddened that this rich amazing piece of our heritage has been callously turned into a minor football in cheap shortsighted political games.
As I stated above, here are the “Dino Details.” We didn’t explore much of the evidence of that era and consequently won’t have to say much about it, after this.
The Triassic period took place immediately after one of the first mass extinctions on Earth, between 251 million and 199 million years ago, and phytosaurs evolved alongside other species that emerged after roughly 95 percent of the previous species had perished.
One of the reasons Grand Staircase-Escalante was first designated in 1996, was because of its value as a paleontological site. Its Kaiparowits Plateau ranks as one of the most important examples of the Mesozoic Era. It has “yielded 27 new species never known to science before. Bears Ears possesses similar wealth.
Non-permitted looting is happening. Dinosaur remains show up here in Tucson’s Gem and Mineral Show each year. The oil and mineral resources already licensed are not presently economically viable and will not be for many years, if ever. Several locals told us that in the Moab area, “it’s crawling with people.” More tourist are coming to the area. Obviously, there is no stopping them. The region needs protection.
Money, dishonesty, callousness, corruption and ignorance are destroying heritage and science all over the less developed world. Even in Mexico, and not far below our border, vast areas of exceptionally diverse old growth forests are literally being turned into toilet paper. I’d like to think that we are better than that. We can be.
I am on the forum of FreeRangeNaturism.com often, if you would like to converse.
We have climbed a gradual slope, somewhere around 1200 feet near our campsite at Arch Canyon. The rock surface has given way to a plain (See the previous post “Hotel Rock”)
In the distance, I see what has to be Hotel Rock.
It is a massive bubble of colorful stone, seemingly popped out of the flat terrain to prominence. There are ruins placed into its structure. People used to live here.
Having changed our plans to explore Arch Canyon, Utah, I must make alternate arrangements. There are several hikes and archeological sites in the area. We can remain busy, but I have to research routes particulars and make some strategic choices.
We’ve taken an evening after dinner walk to the top of the local hill next to camp. Up here, we can be alone, bare ourselves to the lovely elements and watch the 360 degree panorama changing with the fantastical coloring of the sunset. Our western view leads up the white, now turned blue, ridge of solid rock. It looks like a small mountain, but we know that it turns into a plain above the cliff walls of Arch Canyon and other canyons in the region.
There is a surprise. We notice a small white light up there. There gives no sound with its movement, it is simply just too far away. Could someone be camping up there?
As dusk’s light fades into darkness, the light begins to move down the long slope. We watch a steady stream of ATV lights snaking down the hill of stone. Perhaps they have been having a sunset cocktail party up there. So there must be some sort of road, or road-like route. One map showed the possibility. One crude drawing showed a route roughly to Hotel Rock, simply a black line.
When these vehicles finish their descent, we can see where the road meets the turnoff below us. This is clue enough. Tomorrow, we’ll explore. At the least, we will find a stunning view and get our exercise, naked. On the other hand, we may have found the way to Hotel Rock.
In the tent, I get out a crude map under the night light.
When we left off last time, we had been exploring Arch Canyon’s ruins. We have a goal in mind up the road that should keep us busy for the next few days. Fellow explorers on quads have disappeared. We are left happily enjoying the air, sun and sense of free ranging freedom. Encounters with others will be very few from here.
Driving on down this challenging 4×4 route, my neck is getting sore and my back tired from the strain. I consciously let up on my grip, but I must also keep a sustained alert eye out for sharp objects and other obstacles. There is a constant turning of the wheel on the up/down weaving thread of a trail, avoiding the potential for catastrophe. We are not alone. ATV’s and well-appointed jeeps are out here, too.
The road is absolutely narrow, and the brush thick. Anyone sharing the route must pull off to the side and there are few spots for that. At one point, a string of professional looking jeeps have pulled off of the side of the trail. They are politely making room for us. I’m thinking that our lone truck would be the one to yield.
We got to the mouth of Arch Canyon in time, happy to get a spot under a tall shady cottonwood stand. There’s a colorful stone wall face on one side and an actual ancient ruin next door.
I found this canyon on a map in a travel book. There are several archeological sites in the vicinity. The scenery is as is the usual in southeastern Utah, beautiful and rugged. There is a 12 mile 4×4 road running through the length of the canyon, which ends at a view of an iconic stone arch. I figure that there will be a spot or two around there to car camp, for a few days. Also, at the end of that road, are three feeder canyons. We can hike one nude each day. It looks remote enough to get away from the Labor Day Weekend crowds. Well, that is the initial plan, but things change.
We’ve just spent over a week out in the desert wilderness of Bears Ears National Monument. It has been monumental and we have acquired a compelling interest in the local archeology.
It is time to take a deeper look into our options. We’ll need some gas. Each week we’ll need fresh blocks of ice. We’ll need fresh produce for our microbiology’. Blanding is the most likely source. I’ll need to get on the internet to research where we might go next and get the bills paid. There will be cellphone service there to check on home.
Civilization feels like a return into a strange and busy world.
The Free Range Naturist 