We chose to try to find some ruins that we had heard about, but didn't have good information on how to find. BLM rangers will not give details on most cultural sites in BENM, so we set out on our own, knowing that this one might be in John's Canyon.
1 It's a beautiful day for a walk when we don't know where we are going, and it turns out that we see no one else.
2 Approaching the canyon edge.
3 We try to follow the more frequently trodden trails.
4 Let's not get too close to the edge. Ever get that queasy feeling in your knees and gut? But we're trying to spot ruins along the opposte canyon wall.
5 Joe, with binoculars, looking for ruins across the canyon.
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8 We don't find any and move on.
9 A "sky island" at the end of the finger between the two adjacent side canyons. There is a tricky downclimb that leads to some ruins we see in the distance and BobF and Joe take the challenge. Don and Ed choose not to do the downclimb and, instead, photograph the trek out on the end of the narrowing finger.
10 This sky island has ruins all around its circumference.
11 Joe and BobF are just below the ruins we spotted from the main ridge.
12 It's a long down way to get a drink of water. Some pockets/potholes save rainwater until it's used or evaporates.
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14 Come on fellows, don't take all day out there.
15 Our ruin find appears in the distance over Don's left shoulder.
16 Meanwhile, back at the waiting area, Don looks for ruins in the canyon walls
17 Bob and Joe have moved on out of sight.
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19 This is where they are at. They found an unreconstructed complex of six apartments at this location, well sheltered.
20 A smaller twin-unit
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22 Timber from a fallen roof.
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24 Look at that, will you.
25 These residents left their mano and metate (Google them) behind when they moved out. The long and slender pieces of rock are unusual in our experience.
26 A room with a view.
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31 The lookout?
32 Don says, "Come on back here. It's time for lunch."
33 But before they return, they explore some more.
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35 Many structures here have not fared well with time.
36 Joe thinks he sees an easier way to get back up onto the ridge.
37 Joe and Bob check it out but can't make it work. Eventually they go back to where they downclimbed and make it up.
38 They return and have some lunch. Joe offers some beef jerky that looks 20 years old (at a minimum by the looks of it). Don tries a piece and quickly spits it out. Thanks, Joe.
39 Some Indian Paint Brush wild flowers.
40 We did not find any sign of Many Doors Ruin. It's time to look elsewhere.
41 The Lexus awaits our return near the edge of the canyon.
42 We eventually find some other roads that take us to the head of the next canyon to the west. We spotted a trail that entered the canyon at ridge level and used this to descend and look for Many Doors Ruins.
43 There is standing water in the creek bed from the rain and snow a couple days earlier.
44 There is never just a simple path. That would be too easy.
45 The creek bed fell sharply and we stay on a contour well above because we preferred not to fall sharply.
46 Another bit to scramble over.
47 Don takes a peek with the binoculars. No ruins that he could spot.
48 After Joe thinks he found a trail down to the creek bed with what appears to be easy going from there, we decide to call it a day. A little research after this hike, leads us to believe that we were going in the right direction on the right trail, and that Many Doors Ruin was about a mile on down canyon. This may be the first place we come back to on our next visit. We'll find it yet.
49 But we've got to get back up to the canyon rim where the Lexus is.
50 We find a way down to the creek level in this finger of Johns Canyon. Now it's back to the Lexus.
51 Oh, there it is.
52 We have a scare and a shout when the Lexus moves toward the canyon edge as we start. Just kidding. We really don't want to reenact "Thelma and Louise."
53 The notch cut through the "Comb Ridge" for Utah 95, the major east-west highway through Bears Ears. Taken from the west approach as we were returning to our hotel.
