Comb Ridge in Bears Ears National Monument and a Book Review on Seasons – Desert Sketches by Meloy

Firstly, geology stuff

A major feature in Bears Ears is Comb Ridge, an 80 mile long monocline with lots of hikes to Ancestral Puebloan ruins and petroglyph displays. Here's a Utah.Geology.gov page. Oh yeah there is Waterpocket Fold (NPS page) in Capitol Reef National Monument, 100 miles long, another monocline facing the same direction, 80 miles northwest of Comb Ridge. These web pages mention the monoclines resulted from the laramide orogeny. Some pictures of Waterpocket Fold in the August 2016 issue of this newsletter.

The laramide orogeny, what's that? The Wikipedia page explains this was the event 50-70 million years ago that created some of the features in the western US including the Rocky Mountains and the basin and range province. Bit about the latter in a October 2023 article, which mentions looking at a map we can see the north-south trending little mountain ranges, parallel to the two monoclines. We can imagine tectonic plates ramming together, one forcing itself below the other, resulting in the monoclines and the basin and range topography.

The Comb Ridge monocline, aerial photo, looking north. The yellow rock is Navajo sandstone. US 163 runs across the bottom. Comb Wash road is left of the ridge (with potentially flooded crossings) and Butler Wash road is visible on the right. The Abajo Mountains are upper right.
Photo credit: San Juan Record, Karen Shumway. Also used in the April 2019 issue.

Hiking stuff, particularly to the ridge summit

Driving around and hiking these monoclines may seem more appealing than the Rockies as the structure is so visible, intelligible and the hiking is mostly easier. When looking at the aerial photo above, we think surely there are reasonable routes to the top of Comb Ridge! Searching I found mention of two. Those are about visiting ruins and petroglyphs and then can get to the summit with a little further climb.

We imagine if simply choose what looks promising from the bottom we can find a way up at many spots. We get a ways up then (if we are lucky) realize oh let's go over there, safer and not as steep. Then repeat that ten times and maybe on the way down also, when it could be more dangerous, being slickrock, which is usually very good footing except when icy. Though beware accumulations of small stones (which my hiking buddies know as BBRs, ball-bearing rocks). But we might get pics from the top!

The hikes mentioned below are west from Butler Wash road, which runs south 21 miles from Utah hwy 95 to US 163. We can see the latter in the prior picture. Oh yeah here's the BLM Bears Ears map. The road pretty much is just east of the wash itself except at the north and south ends where it is further east.

Looking north from the top of Comb Ridge. In the prior picture this spot is on the west side (left) of the ridge, about halfway along from the big bend in the ridge center and the next bend discernible about 85% of the way up the picture. A short hike up from Procession Panel (mentioned below). Comb Wash road is below, with a nice at-large campground at the north end, just off hwy 95. The Abajo Mountains in the southern section of Manti-La Sal National Forest are on the horizon right. This picture and the others below were all taken on a trip in March 2023.

Looking south from the top of Comb Ridge above Procession Panel. Comb Wash road is below. Valley of the Gods, another area in Bears Ears is upper right; one picture there in March 2017.

Looking east from the top of Comb Ridge. Sleeping Ute Mountain is on the horizon left of center, in the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation. Procession Panel is in the shaded alcove right center. Butler Wash is across center, with Butler Wash Road from which Comb Ridge is accessed. The parking area is left of center.

Finally, hikes!

It is very useful to review some web pages about what can be seen along Comb Ridge, hiking up from Butler Wash. We read one and think we understand, then another and know some more, etc. Here's one at AmericanSouthwest.net with a map with some of the favorite hikes noted though not Procession Panel, but Split Level/Ridge Top ruins, Monarch Cave and Wolfman Panel mentioned below are. Another at RoadTripRyan.com about Split Level/Ridge Top, have to create an account but that's free and the specifics are excellent, and many hikes all around the larger area are well documented.

About these hiking routes. There are no signs. Best we download the GPX files to phone apps. In particular RoadTripRyan.com does a good job with these, and also mileage from the Bulter Wash road turnoff from hwy 95. Then we can understand where the parking and start of the routes are. The parking is mostly obvious at the popular routes and the route may be also, with some cairns. But best we pay close attention.

Procession Panel, with a little further hike to the summit of Comb Ridge

The next two pictures are at this panel. There is an article at HikingWalking.com; it is 2.8 mi RT, 510' gain to the panel, with the parking spot 14.8 miles south from hwy 95. Good pic on that page with button at lower right for viewing a bunch of additional pictures of the route. The page says “Without a doubt, my favorite rock art site along the Lower Butler Wash Road is the amazing Procession Panel, a 15-ft long petroglyph panel though to represent a ceremonial gathering or migration story."

Other bits

Monarch Cave is one of the most popular hikes. There were details and a picture in April 2019. I remember an apparent cut to the north off the route to the ruins, some people might have used that attempting to access the summit. Wonder if they succeeded; didn't find mention of that. The parking spot for Monarch is 0.6 miles north of that for Procession Panel.

Wolfman Panel, the last picture. A short drive from US 163 with a turnoff to parking less than a mile north. There is RoadTripRyan.com's page, and another at HikingWalking.com; both mention the bullet hole pockmarks visible in the picture. What was someone thinking of when deciding to do this desecration? We can only imagine. If we wish there are some ruins across the wash just north and south of the panel.

In the July 2023 issue there is a picture of the Grand Gallery pictograph panel with much worse damage, in the Horseshoe Canyon unit of Canyonlands National Park. I found a bunch of web pages talking about petroglyphs and pictographs being used for target practice. A more ignorant and insulting sort of behavior regards the ancient cultures that created these I cannot think of.

The procession panel. The section with most detail is in front of my hiking buddy, but there are more petroglyphs at the left and right sides of this picture. The close up picture next is of a section about 4' to the right of my buddy's head.

Close up of the panel. The row of figures at the top have fingernails, or really maybe long claws, individually scratched for each upraised hand.

Wolfman panel, just N of US 163, E side of Comb Ridge. Believe the parking area is visible in the aerial (first) photo lower right. The pockmarks above and right are from gunfire.

Book: Seasons – Desert Sketches by Ellen Meloy

This is a publication of essays Ellen wrote for the NPR affiliate in Salt Lake City, KUER. From the introduction:

They were funny, beautiful and almost always surprising. ...After she died in 2004 those tapes just sat there on a shelf. We realized that was a shame so we decided to share them ...Most of us came to know Ellen when the desert reclaimed her in Utah. She and her husband Mark made the tiny town of Bluff [just southeast of Bears Ears National Monument] their home.

In the really important ways, she never ever distinguished herself from all the other settlers of the West. Ellen said most people come to the desert for something else and then strip themselves of everything but water and their thoughts. At some point, she said she crossed that threshold of absence in the desert. She looked beyond the austerity and found the place packed. Maybe that's when she started writing.

From the forward (with more profound commentary by Annie Proulx):

In the end, what we take away from the essays of Ellen Meloy is her impassioned request to regard what is around us. Pay attention to the weather, to what breaks your heart, to what lifts your heart. Write it down.

Ellen wrote a number of other books about the southwest, including Raven's Exile - a Season on the Green River, mentioned in a April 2024 article.

From the e-Mailbag

From time-to-time, the Alamo Group receives messages concerning local environmental issues. If you have thoughts on any of these issues, send us a message and we'll forward it to the writer. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or opinions of the Alamo Group or its members.

Proposed ban on canned hunting of mountain lions

I came across this proposal, Mountain Lions - Proposed Prohibition of Canned Hunting; Trapping Standards, from the Parks & Wildlife Division in Texas . They are taking public comments until May 22 and I am wondering if the Sierra Club would be interested in taking a stand on this and emailing the membership.

They are trying to ban situations where mountain lions are trapped and then either left there to die or kept in captivity briefly and then apparently released and hunted for fun. That sounds pretty gross to me and the new law seems to be a good one if it prohibits animal abuse of that kind. I am wondering if you have seen this and have an opinion on it.

Outings: The Call of the Wild

Visit the Alamo Sierra Club Outings page on Meetup for detailed information about all of our upcoming Sierra Club Outings.

The Alamo Sierran Newsletter

Richard Alles, Editor
Published by the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club, P.O. Box 6443, San Antonio, TX 78209, AlamoSierraClub.org.
The Alamo Group is one of 13 regional groups within the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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