My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

When I first came to Lower Butler Wash I had no plan as to which site I would visit first nor did I have any sequence planned.....it just seemed to happen the way it did. And the way it did happen was that I had saved the best hikes / sites for last. So the next site that we visited here was Procession Panel at Mile Post 6.1.....as far as hiking goes, this hike was by far the best of the seven hikes that we did here.....





As was often the case here in Lower Butler Wash, I got off route, and I ended up hiking up a canyon which led me to the top of Comb Ridge.....I had followed a sequence of misplaced stone cairns which obviously were left by a lost soul.....





Came across an area covered with these unusual formations.....



We descended from the ridgeline, eventually finding the correct route, following a different set of stone cairns, and then proceeded onwards towards the ridgeline while crossing massive slabs of stone.....



We dropped down a bit & then crossed a ravine, and then climbed higher.....I was really liking this hike.....



Hiked along the base of this massive slab of stone.....



And finally found what we had been looking for.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The rock art here was superb but honestly what I loved about this site was it's location.....





This was as close to anything that even remotely resembled climbing for months now.....the views up there were outstanding.....and Procession Panel was pretty great too.....







The sun was beginning to set as we had started late this day.....





Retraced our steps.....



Happy dogs.....happy life.....

 

[Riversdad]

It's nice to see you back out there again and sharing your adventures. I'm sure the dogs are much happier now that they're getting near constant activity.

 

[Ace Brown]

I see Tanner on the loose. Is Trapper still leashed?


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[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Riversdad.....yea, it always feels good to be out there. I enjoy the new experiences.....

Ace.....yes, I'm working with Trapper daily and I've allowed her to run free four times so far. Three times at Lower Butler Wash went really well. Once at Valley of the Gods not so well.....rabbit.....



And finally the last hike at Lower Butler Wash was to the Cold Springs Cave Ruins at Mile Post 7.7. These were by far the best ruins that we saw during our eight day stay.....







This particular cave actually had running water and plants growing inside.....now with Utah being in a severe drought there wasn't a lot of running water on our visit.....I saw a YouTube video prior to our visit where this pool of water was quite large.....the dogs loved it.....









It had exceptional views as well.....





Just a lot to see here.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

More ruins were located just beyond & below the mouth of the cave.....





These grooves in the stones were interesting.....I'm guessing possibly that this is where they sharpened tools & arrowheads (I'm no archeologist).....





And this spot where they ground their corn.....



Tons of rock art here.....





.....of all varying types.....

 

[jgaz]

So cool. I love that area and your pictures are superb.
ive spent a fair amount of time in that area and have never seen anything like your last picture. Are the circles hard like rock? Approx. size? Thanks so much for sharing these

 

[Ace Brown]

I’ve always believed earth has had visitors before. Looking at post #4271 and the 7th photo it’s “proof” in my mind. Most of the rock art appears to just record the hunt but every so often I see depictions that are very alien. To doubters I ask how come these same figures are seen in rock art all around the world? It wasn’t passed around by telegraph.


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[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

jgaz.....yes and as best I recall that circle was fairly large.....just a guess here but I'm thinking maybe 18". And you're welcome.....as I've said many times I really enjoy journaling in the early morning hours with my hot mug of black coffee with my two best friends close by. This morning I'm posting from a fairly remote location overlooking Lake Powell anxiously awaiting the sunrise (I'm told it's the most spectacular spot on the entire lakes rim).....I got here last night after 2 hours of brutal off roading.....my rig shouldn't be here.....but the dogs and I should be.....

Ace.....more than once while in remote locations I've questioned what I've seen. People believe there's a God yet question the existence of the "visitors" as you call them ? Each to his own is how I see the world.....



On days spent here in the wash when we weren't visiting the ruins & rock art, we would head up into some of the smaller canyons to see what we could see. One day while traveling back from a ruin a huge buck came bounding out of a smaller wash and crossed the Jeeps path.....of course I wondered why was he up there.....



So off we went to.....yep.....see what we could see.....



It's so great to come across places like these.....



This water is absorbed into the ground long before it makes it to the road.....my guess is that most people will never see this tiny spring & waterfall.....



It seems as though the wildlife here are still able to maintain some of their little secrets.....



And so it was that we finally left Lower Butler Wash and when we did leave here that day we had full intentions to head north up to Moab, Utah to get that hat that I had mentioned a few weeks ago.....not sure what it was that happened that day but when we came to the intersection with Highway 95 I hung a left and drove west.....I guess I wasn't quite ready to leave Bears Ears National Monument & Cedar Mesa behind.....



Last year I had passed this particular ruin without a thought of stopping.....this year we had a look.....





This ruin was sensational yet I wasn't overly impressed with what I saw here.....access was easy.....just a short hike from the rig on a well marked trail.....something began to click in my brain while I was here.....something I've noticed while reading my books on the Anasazi while experiencing these ruins simultaneously.....something I think I'll speak to at a later time.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

So now we're retracing our steps from last years visit to Bears Ears National Monument.....we had overnighted here previously and I knew it to be a good spot to stay.....



There are ruins here but I won't post more pictures of them.....there's plenty here from a year ago already.....



Instead I'll post pictures of what I saw when I returned this year.....



Biologist / scientists / researchers.....whatever they may be.....were in the process of doing a study on the mule deer population in Bears Ears National Monument.....





They were using the chopper to shoot the deer (not to kill).....and then they'd bring the deer back here to do whatever it is that they do.....some of the deer left with collars.....they were the lucky ones.....





This one broke a leg as it attempted to flee.....it pained me to see it.....



.....but they assured me that this deers loss of life would benefit the others.....they would use its body parts for research to better understand the lives of the mule deer.....

 

[pkripper]

Fantastic as always. I bet your at A. P if on the west side or M. P. on the east side. Either way both are exceptional. I will leave it to you to give out the spot. Safe travels!!

 

[Ace Brown]

Fantastic as always. I bet your at A. P if on the west side or M. P. on the east side. Either way both are exceptional. I will leave it to you to give out the spot. Safe travels!!

I know of a favorite spot of mine that overlooks Lake Powell. Jerry’s description of two hours of brutal off reading seems about right. Heck I wouldn’t even try to drive his rig into my spot.

But your coded references don’t fit my knowledge of Powell.

Ace


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[Sierra Valley]

Found myself watching another great documentry on climbing last night. This one was called The Alpinest featuring climber Marc-André Leclerc. What a crazy short life he lived!

 

[pkripper]

I know of a favorite spot of mine that overlooks Lake Powell. Jerry’s description of two hours of brutal off reading seems about right. Heck I wouldn’t even try to drive his rig into my spot.

But your coded references don’t fit my knowledge of Powell.

Ace


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MP doesn't overlook Lake Powell but Its a tremendous sunset and sunrise spot. A little hint is both P's stand for point.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

pkripper / Ace.....not a secret place & didn't mean to mislead.....it's Alstrom Point.....my guess is that others could easily make it there in less time but 2 hours from Big Water, Utah is about as good as it gets for me.....the last few miles of that road were brutal.....

Sierra Valley.....yea, I'm familiar with that guy. It simply amazes me how driven some people are in the sport.....climbing seems to attract these kinds of people.....I guess it's that adrenaline rush that they seek & need. I watch YouTube climbing videos in the evenings and one that I think you might like to watch is some of the stuff that David Snow submits to YouTube.....I watch a lot of his videos.....



Somwhere along the way I had read about an Anasazi ruin called House on Fire which just so happened to be located in the canyon directly below where we were camped (Mule Canyon ) so the following morning we unhooked the Jeep and headed to the trailhead.....











The hike in was easy.....the ruins were spectacular.....









We liked it here.....