Today we want to walk a trail in Mule Canyon that we couldn’t the day before due to the falling darkness and basically follow the same roads towards the Mule Canyon. We pass the diner where we ate last night in Monticello before arriving in Blanding where we want to visit the Dinosaur Museum.
Unfortunately it is closed for the winter so we visit another small history museum in Blanding with some interesting exhibits before continuing towards the Mule Canyon.
We find the parking lot relatively easy as we explored the day before a bit and then start in the opposite direction of the official trail to explore the canyon a bit.
Here it is barely a canyon actually but the water is flowing quite nicely through the rocks and we enjoy exploring and even find some artifacts gathered on a stone by previous explorers of the area.
After this diversion we go on the official trail through the North Fork of the Mule Canyon, the trail starts a bit difficult to follow but soon it is clear that it follows the wash through the canyon and we relax enjoying the canyon as it starts to deepen.
It also gets colder, we even see some ice from time to time. It is an interesting contrast between the green of the vegetation and the white of the ice, that we quite enjoy.
One of the reasons we chose and wanted to do this trail is that it has quite a few petroglyph sites and also some cliff dwellings. The problem is finding them so we keep our eyes on the canyon wall and are rewarded soon with some pictographs and then a small cliff dwelling.
We explore the shelter protected by a wall for a short while but there isn’t really a lot to see besides the wall.
But what a wall it is, it looks built yesterday even though it is hundreds of years old. It even has ancient tree trunks still holding it up, impressive.
Exploring the rest of the cliff dwelling we find a huge shell obviously here due to trade as it is an ocean shell as far as we can tell.
We then stop at an interesting natural shelter to have lunch and enjoy the views before continuing past a few holes full of water along the canyon floor.
The canyon starts to open up a view and the views become more expansive. It is very beautiful and we enjoy the hike as we continue on towards the major ruins further in the canyon.
The vegetation is quite sparse but there are some impressive huge trees in the canyon taken by floods, we really are impressed by them given that they are much larger than anything we see close by.
With all the looking around we almost miss a small Anasazi building at the top of the cliffs – it looks like a guardhouse for those that were guarding the entrance to the canyon.
We continue through the canyon enjoying the great views and continuing to look for ruins, but none are found in this stretch,
Our turnaround point for the hike are the largest remnants of Anasazi structures in the canyon after about a 3 mile hike in. Here the buildings are well preserved, a kiva is visible in front of the building and there are both petroglyphs and pictographs. And we almost passed this as it is behind some bushes only luck made as investigate a side trail and finding the complex.
There is even a small collection of Anasazi artifacts which is quite interesting and even an old corn cob, really interesting.
The pictographs themselves are interesting as they are of hands, very similar to what we have seen just a couple months ago in South Africa on the Sevilla Rock Art Trail. But the ruins themselves steal the show, they are well preserved and interesting to visit.
Walking back we examine the canyon again for additional Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs with no luck. But we enjoy the greenery where there is seepage of water in the rocks – it is quite special.
On the way back we pick up the pace to ensure we get back at the car before sunset as it is cold enough in the sun with most patches of water being frozen solid along the way.
Back at the car we enjoy a beautiful sunset before returning back to Monticello and then driving on towards Moab where we will stay the night.
The hotel is quite good and we like that it even has a coffee maker with a lot of cup variety that we try out during our stay. But today after getting some provisions from a nearby shop we go to sleep as we are quite tired after our long hike.
