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I'm bailing out of real life for a week and heading to AZ. I haven't made any plans yet, but I figure I'll spend at least part of it in UT poking around in ruins. However, if anyone has some good ideas, I'm mostly ears.

I'm heading to Cedar Mesa with my wife that weekend. We plan on hiking into Bullet Canyon. We'll set up a camp and then day hike to some of the other ruins.

Plenty of water in the Supes. Cherry creek has several sets of ruins; Devil's Chasm, Cold Spring, Pueblo Canyon, and one across the creek whose name escapes me right now. Lots of water there also.

Cool Alex!

My initial thought is to spend the weekend wandering around Comb Ridge and thereabouts, then take a look at some routes in Cedar Mesa early next week, finishing up the Supes. Earlier this year, I figured I'd have more detailed plans, but my schedule kept filling in.

There aren't many trips on the calendar yet.

big_load wrote:My initial thought is to spend the weekend wandering around Comb Ridge and thereabouts

There's definitely a lot to see along Comb Ridge... a full week the last time we were there wasn't enough for me to get my fill. I'd recommend hitting the less-accessible and/or lesser known ruin sites.

@big_load
Cedar Mesa? Ruins? You can get a full plate of both at the Moonhouse Ruins, http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=24570.

Plans are to be in Utah in late May and my plate is filling up fast with a short backpack in the Abajo's planned, some ruins that have been on my radar for a few years with historical significance coming into play. We'll see what comes of it.

@SAMBA
I'd love to get to Moon House, and I'll go for it if there are permits available. I'll dig through my maps later. I think I have everything I need; but I might have to print out a few more.

@big_load
Permits? We didn't have no stinkin' permits!!!! If permits are required to visit Moonhouse, none of us in my group had them, or even mentioned anything about permits. That said, I didn't know about the permitting requirements to visit the WAVE. I knew there was a nominal fee, and I dropped my payment in the collection box at the start of the hike. It was only after I did the Wave, that I found out how strict the permitting process is to visit the Wave. RedRoxx44 has been to Moonhouse. Maybe she can tell you whether or not permits are required.

@SAMBA see permit on the http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=15887 page in the directions segment

Does anyone know when the permitting process became a reality. I visited Moon House in April 2007, and there was no permitting process I was aware of at that time.

@SAMBA March 2010.

@mazatzal
Thanks for the info. See, I'm not as daft as all yooz guys think I am.

SAMBA wrote:@mazatzal
Thanks for the info. See, I'm not as daft as all yooz guys think I am.

The hell you ain't! ;)

If you stop at the Kane Gulch Ranger Station you can pick up permits for the same day or the following day. Last time I was there a few ranger volunteers were set up at the top of the hill near the exit point to check permits...

I'm back in one piece, although that seemed in question once or twice. I ended up spending almost the whole time in UT, at least partly because the late-week forecast in AZ looked a bit warm, but mostly because the ruins were too good and my boots were nice and grippy on the sandstone.

@big_loadWhich ones did you visit?

@MtnBart01

This will be a memory test. It's partly by location and partly in order:

Arch Canyon (just the first little bit)
Moon House and some neighboring ruins up-canyon and down-canyon
Road Canyon (Fallen Roof, some unnamed ruins, Seven Kivas, the Citadel)
Lower Mule Canyon (Mule Canyon Towers and vicinity)
South Fork of Mule Canyon (nearly the whole length, quite a few ruins)
Butler Wash (a couple that I missed before, including Monarch Cave)

There were a couple hairy spots, especially at the Citadel and an excellent ruin in Mule Canyon where it took all my gumption to make the necessary moves. I steeled my resolve by deciding that you wouldn't think twice about those little obstacles. There was also a spot in Mule Canyon that I couldn't remember how to get down from. I went back and forth a couple hundred yards in each direction a couple times looking for the right sequence of magic spots to get between levels. It was like picking a lock while running out of daylight and water. You would have loved it.

big_load wrote:There was also a spot in Mule Canyon that I couldn't remember how to get down from. I went back and forth a couple hundred yards in each direction a couple times looking for the right sequence of magic spots to get between levels.

I had the same thing happen to me, might even have been the same place... but now memory even fails me where in Mule Canyon it was.
:whistle:

I've been to some of those places. I wonder how much longer people will be allowed in.