Hovenweep - Settlement

Date Added: 12th May 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Only was able to visit Stronghold House and another ruin nearby. The rest were remote viewing only. See Hovenweep - Stronghold House for more details.

Hovenweep - Stronghold House

Date Added: 13th May 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Only had time to see Stronghold House and its tower, plus a nearby ruin. Everything else in the Square Tower Group was remote viewing from the edge of Little Ruin Canyon, only due to my time constraints.

Access to Stronghold House is via a handicapped accessible paved trail about 300 yds from the visitor center.

Mesa Verde - Pithouse

Date Added: 18th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is the first stop on the Mesa Top Loop, a one-way driving loop featuring actual excavated sites with interpretation that cover Basketmaker 3 through Pueblo 3 cultural periods.

The Pithouse stop is about a mile south of Chapin Museum and Spruce Tree House overlook. The actual pithouse is less than 100 ft south of the parking pulloff under a shelter, accessible via a paved foot path.

Mesa Verde - Square Tower House

Date Added: 18th Jul 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a cliff dwelling from the Ancestral Pueblo 3 period featuring the tallest tower structure still standing in the park. There are two ways to see the cliff dwelling. Remotely, from an overlook at the canyon rim. Or much closer, via periodically scheduled ranger-led hikes into the cliff dwelling complex itself. I opted for the overlook view, as they were just starting the guided tours (around the end of the first week in May in 2025).

Parking at the trailhead is available about 1/2 mile south of the Pithouse stop on the Mesa Top Loop road. The paved trail to the overlook is about 600 ft long and provides a nice view of the complex.

Hovenweep - Unit Type House

Date Added: 14th May 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I viewed this site at 200-300 yds away from Stronghold House. Someday I'll return to visit this and the other structures in the Square Tower Group more closely. My understanding is that you can get a much closer view of Unit Type House from the trail that circles the canyon.

Cave Pueblo Ruin

Date Added: 14th May 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4

Log Text: There is no close access to the site due to a barbed wire fence and wired off gate. But you can easily spot the cave and ruin from a parking pulloff ~ 3 miles east of Bluff UT. There are also a number of rock art sites along the same route west from this point to Bluff. I was able to visit some, not all.

Ghost Rock Art Panel

Date Added: 15th May 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A mixed modern and ancient petroglyph site about 2.3 miles east of Bluff UT accessible from Route 162.

There is a parking pulloff at 37.282579,-109.505201 and an 800 ft dirt road leads north from there. Suitable for SUVs or lower clearance vehicles (with care). Follow the dirt road north and stay right at the first fork. The road ends in a small turnaround circle. Park here. The rock art is mostly to the left and just a short walk to the cliff face.

You can also park at Route 162 and hike in.

Horse Rock Art Panels

Date Added: 15th May 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: The main rock art panel is just 100-200 ft north of Route 162 about 0.2 miles east of Bluff. Parking is in a dirt lot next to a corral and a fenced utility building. For the mobility impaired, the panel is pretty visible with the naked eye from a vehicle if you park as far north as you can get and scan the central boulder.

I've been told there are more panels of a single horse and multiple animals behind the utility building fence and higher up the cliff slope.

Bluff Great House

Date Added: 15th May 2025
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a so-called Chacoan outlier great house near the San Juan River, likely built during the Pueblo 2 period ca. 1100 CE. The site overlooks the town of Bluff UT on a high hill with a stunning backdrop of canyons to the north. It has been excavated in the past and subsequently backfilled to preserve the room blocks and kivas within.

There is an interpretive kiosk and parking loop just south of the main access road (N. Pioneer Drive). The buried great house and related structures are about 100-200 yds north of the kiosk via an easy foot trail.

To get to the parking area from Main St, take 3rd East St north to its end. Turn left onto Mulberry and follow it about 1000 ft until it turns right sharply onto N. Pioneer and heads up hill towards the Bluff Cemetery. The gravel parking lot is another 800-1000 ft on the right.

Sand Island petroglyph Panel

Date Added: 18th May 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is one of the better-known and most frequently visited rock art sites in southeastern Utah. The site is a very short walk (< 100 ft) up to the cliff face from a dirt parking pulloff with interpretive signage. The panels are in a relatively compact area, maybe 100 yds in total. And although they are protected by a fence and can only be viewed from a distance, you can still get fairly close for photography as long as the sun cooperates (it mostly did not for me). An overcast day or a low sun angle are preferred as full direct sunlight tends to wash out the images,

To get there, take Route 191 west out of Bluff UT for approximately 4 miles. Turn left onto a gravel road with signage that indicates the Sand Island Recreational Area and boat ramp. At the bottom of the hill, take your first right onto another gravel road. This road leads straight to a couple of parking pulloffs on the right in about 0.25 miles, plus some petroglyph signage. A short trail leads up to the cliff base and the panels. The panels are surrounded by a fence to discourage defacement and further damage.

Upper Sand Island Rock Art

Date Added: 19th May 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: A half mile's worth of intermittent ancient petroglyph panels, connected by a trail along the cliff face. To access the trailhead, take Route 191 west out of Bluff UT for approximately 4 miles. Turn left onto a gravel road with signage that indicates the Sand Island Recreational Area and boat ramp. At the bottom of the hill, take your first left onto another gravel road. This road leads 100-200 yds past the ranger buildings to a large parking lot next to a restroom. Unless you are an authorized camper, park here and walk another 200 yds east down the road to its end at the campground loop.

A trail leads from here to the cliff base and the panels. The panels are in some cases fenced off from the trail by as much as 80-100 feet to discourage defacement and further damage. Many are high up on the cliff face and much easier to see with binoculars.

Newspaper Rock State Park

Date Added: 23rd May 2025
Site Type: Rock Art Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Probably the most accessible of all the petroglyph sites in SE Utah....once you get there. It is not near any towns of size so prepare accordingly.

To get there, either drive north 14 miles from Monticello or south 40 miles from Moab on Route 191. Then head west on Route 211 about 12 miles to the site. All the roads are paved and there is a restroom onsite.

From the paved parking area it is just steps away to the rock art panel on a flat dirt path. Might even be wheelchair accessible.

One plus: from that point on Route 211 to the Needles District of Canyonlands there are a lot of rock art sites...and the scenery is stunning !