September 27: Wolfmen, Bikers, Flowers, and a Full Moon

Bluff City has one store:  a mini-mart disguised as a Sinclair gas station, run by a Navajo family.  We found a nice campsite

with real grass that hadn't been cut for a while.  The owner was a young women, running the place for her mother.  She was a talker and recounted how she and her friends would go out to Butler Wash to shoot tin cans, but never knew there was rock art out there.

Now Bluff is a stopover for bikers, hikers, and pikers heading to Moab from Monument Valley.  My proud moment came when a middle-aged biker stopped me at the Bluff supermarket to ask if I knew how many miles it was to Moab.  One hundred twenty-two, to be exact; 23 miles to Blanding and another 21 miles to Monticello.  There are motels in Blanding and Monticello, but nothing between Monticello and Moab except canyons.  And, no, I am not from around here.  And, oh, since you will be traveling east on I-70, be sure to take the River Road out of Moab to get to I-70.  "You will be glad you did."  His parting words were "Thanks, Bud, and God Bless."  Right back at ya, I replied.

From our campsite we could see north up the Cottonwood Wash, where Richard and Marietta Wetherill led their 1895 expedition into Cedar Mesa.

We could also see the Bluff Great House and Navajo Twin Rocks.  South, across the San Juan River, we could see the twin alcoves and dance plaza, so sacred to the early Anasazi settlers in Bluff.

Our multiple destinations today involved more hikes across Butler Wash, on the east side of Comb Ridge.

We drove the dirt road up Butler Wash, parked in a clearing, and hiked up one of the many trails leading into Comb Ridge.  This required crossing at least three deep arroyos.

Since it had rained just two days earlier, the creeks had water in them and we added several pounds of mud to our gear by the time we got to slickrock.  (After crossing Butler Wast so many times, we really did need a butler's wash.)

Our first destination was the "Wolfman Panel," which is a must see rock art site.  Further up Butler Wash will be Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins, including Double-level Ruins and Monarch Ruins.  On each of the hikes we passed numerous Anasazi granaries high on the cliffs.

Storage of surplus maize and beans was a lifesaver for these people, as was defending these sites.

The Wolfman Panel

was about halfway down the side of a cliff that we descended without much difficulty.  It is the only time that we have seen an anthropomorphic figure with articulated knees and calves.

I do not know why he is called Wolfman.  Does not even look like Lon Chaney or Michael J. Fox.  Yes, it was a full moon tonight.

The Wolfman is surrounded by symbolic figures, like this "rake-winged" bird."

  The two "light bulb" eyes

showed up again, as they had at the nearby Procession Panel.  No circle around them this time.  A second panel to the right

had a strange face or mask and a very interesting warrior shield that resembled the emblem of the Rotary Club of America.

But I doubt they had much to do with the rock art sponsorship.  The corn plant was interesting,

as was the Kokopelli figure lying on his back.

The "big hands" guy

shows up as a character on a lot of petroglyphs in this area.  I keep thinking they would make a great NBA logo.

Double-level ruin was in a large alcove.

The upper ruin was in good shape

but out of reach.

We entered the lower level after only a minor climb up.

It is really special to enter an ancient space that still has original walls and doorways, untouched by the park service.

No one else was there that day.  But handprints told the story of past inhabitants.

Handprints are also extremely common in this area.

On the hike back to the car, I got interested in the canyon flora.

I thought desert flowers were colorful only in the spring.  But here were vivid yellows and reds.

The red blossom is from a bush called Indian Paintbrush.  And there were lilac-colored daises as well.

Since we still had part of the afternoon left, we went even further up Butler Wash Road to the trailhead for Monarch Cave.  That is part of tomorrow's story.