[John Morrow]

One of the very special things about being human is to fully love a wild landscape. Cedar Mesa is a place to fall in love with the canyons. This is classic canyon hiking at its very best and beautifulest. It is also the epicenter of Ancestral Puebloan (anasazi) culture, in the wild, outside of the major city centers like Chaco or Mesa Verde. After leaving Lori and Grand junction I headed to Natural Bridges National Monument, my favorite National Park Service park of all! To my delight, and good fortune, I ran into the small tribe of anasazi enthusiasts I have been running into and getting to know some over the past few years. They are a very kind, generous, and welcoming bunch. It has been a pleasure and privilege to hike with three of them, in parrticular, and spend great time pondering things in conversations around the picnic table. As a usually solo traveler I had a precious time. The entire area is ideal for base camps and daytrips which is what I did each day, sharing two days with Kathy, Larry, and Chris. I will leave the details out because it is all so available in guidebooks for those who may be interested or tempted to get down this way: "Hikes of the Colorado plateau," Michael Kelsey, the "Wow" series, or the Mountaineers "Hiking in the Southwest". There is a great pamphlet (Cedar Mesa/Grand Gulch Trip Planner) explaining all these canyons available at the Kane Gulch BLM Ranger Station in the heart of it all. The rock art here can date back to the birth of Christ and more rock art and cliff dwellings are from between 1050 and 1275 AD. April 22: Natural Bridges National Monument White and Deer Canyons. Did a 6 mile loop between Kachina and Sipapu natural bridges with an out and back of Deer Canyon to an impassable pour off. The loop is a maintained trail.

Kachina Bridge

Metates and petroglyphs

IMG_6284

Kachina ruin

Headress pics

Serpent

Kachina area petroglyph

Kachina and creek

Rock Ruin arch

The way out

Collared granary

Interesting curved entrance

IMG_6311

Ceiling detail

Roof detail

Masonry detail

Rock Ruin Panel 2

Rock Ruin Panel

Tamborine Men

White Canyon Mushroom

Famous Horse Collar

Horse Collar dwellings

White Canyon Beauty

Deer Canyon side trip:

Difficult friction bypass

End of the road

Deer slot bypass

Pretty Deer Canyon

Deer Narrows (Natural Bridges NM)

Duck head-Four arms

Many Hands

Sipapu Bridge

April 23: Lime Canyon, Cedar Mesa. This is on the BLM administered lands near Grand Gulch Primitive Area. There are no established actual trails but good cairned routes. It is all about seeking ways to ascend and descend, search for ruins seen in the distance and enjoying the unique lay of the land. There is no real destination. I hiked with my new friends Kathy, Larry, and Chris. We probably did about 6 miles RT descending from near the head of Lime Canyon, working downstream, and returning roughly the same way.

Entering Lime Canyon

Lime Canyon walls

Scampering in Lime Canyon

Larry, Kathy, Chris searching

Down Lime

Chris rounds a buttress

Kiva and dwelling Lime Canyon

Beautiful Lime Canyon

Little Citadel ridge

John in Lime

Nice ruin Lime Canyon

Inaccessible ruins

masonry

Chris descending

Lime Canyon Hoodoo

April 24: John's Canyon Main West Fork. More ambling and scrambling into and out of this canyon with Larry, Chris, and Kathy. We enjoyed walking benches, washes, scrambling ledges, and each others company beneath a very hot sun! We found a loop exit out a side canyon at the end of the day and rim walked back to the car. No real trail, but good cairned routes and evidence of previous travelers.

Entering Main W. Fk. John's

So-so granary, John's

John's ruin

Another granary

Kathy and nice granary

Half intact mudded door

Chris and Kathy

Main West Fork Johns Cyn

John's Cyn Pic

Cherds at Two Ledge

Petroglyph Lower Two Ledge

Kathy's Mano

Chris

Chris and John's Canyon

Fire scar

Granary and Door

Black on White

Chris searching for more

Nice Ruins John's

Tower remnants John's

Beautiful Granary

Exiting John's

Road Kill Black on White

April 25: Lower Mule Canyon Towers and Ruins. I am now heading to Canyonlands with my 5 day backpack permit so I had enough time yesterday to do a short hike into Lower Mule Canyon, right off Hwy 95. I also wanted to scout a route down through the ledges into the bottom for a future longer hike. It was time for all of us to part ways from the campground so I got an early start back to civilization to get a few correspondences accomplished. One of these ruins is truly a favorite of mine!

South Tower

Mule South Tower

Lower Mule view

Kiva

Lower Mule Ruins

Nice masonry

Moki Steps and Circles

Double T Doors

Bear Tracks

A favorite

Duck Head and Tracks

Duck Head-Bear Track Ruin

Claret cups

Flowers

Can you see the wall?

Chicken Pox wall

Little Hovenweep

[TrailPair]

That is waaay kool! Did you need any special permits to get to the ruins? It has been a dream for me to get to that area and hike to Anasazi ruins! Thanks for posting

[Hayduke]

Cedar Mesa is my favoritest place of all. I always knew I loved it, but didn't realize how much until I moved to Seattle (had lived three hours from Cedar Mesa). Thanks for the TR!

[GaliWalker]

Very nice. One of the things I became very aware of in my own southwest trip was that National Parks (or other stunning locales) have this great ability to bring people together. Almost everyone is friendly, welcoming and smiling, with the shared experience. Quite precious.

[puzzlr]

Very cool. My mother grew up on the Zuni, NM reservation along with her family. They are not of indian descent, but those relations know about a lot of places like these, and a few times I've been lucky to go along. These places need all the protection they can get, and sometimes I think being more public is better than being more secret.

[John Morrow]

[John Morrow]

With that avatar, Hayduke, why am I not surprised to discover that! I will miss Cedar Mesa until next year. John