Cedar Mesa Perishables Project Overview Slideshow
See remarkable artifacts documented so far by the Cedar Mesa Perishables Project. Learn why your continued support will result in a much greater understanding of the ancient cultures of the greater Cedar Mesa area. Learn more and support the project at
Blanding, UT
Come see what Blanding, UT has to offer!
Exploring Comb Ridge Utah April 2018
This video summarizes an early April 2018 trip to explore the east side of Comb Ridge along what is called Butler Wash, near Bluff Utah.
Bluff, Utah has a few hotel-motels, RV sites with tent sites, a couple good restaurants, and one place to get gasoline and supplies. Comb Ridge Bistro is excellent for coffee and food.
I chose to stay the first night at Sand Island which is very near the south entrance to Comb Ridge. Sand Island is a semi primitive campsite with a nice host family, dry toilets, potable water, fire rings, a few grills, picnic tables and lots of blow sand. If tent camping prepare for the blow sand. Campground was very quite and cost $15/night.
The sites included in this trip were;
Wolfman Panel and Ruins
Big Crane site
Double Stack Ruins
Procession Panel
Monarch Ruin
Cold Spring Ruin
Split Level Ruin
Fishmouth Cave and Ruin
Butler Wash Road was very well graded and did not have to utilize 4WD. Road was much better than the Coyote Gulch road for comparison. Many free, primitive campsites are available along Butler Wash and I felt very safe in this area primarily due to the lack of people.
ATT Cell phone coverage was good in Bluff, Sand Island but was marginal along Butler Wash. Sometimes up on the Comb itself you could get coverage. Deep in the canyons though, even my Garmin GPS failed to pick up any signal and Gaiagps stopped functioning.
By far my favorite locations were Cold Spring Ruin and Procession Panel. All ruins and petroglyph panels were easy to find and get to, except for Procession Panel. I followed the many Procession Panel cairns but one cairn path routed me to a steep approach so had to back track and choose a less sketchy route. Best to drop into the canyon as soon as you can instead of proceeding higher up on top of the Comb.
I did not see much of any wildlife while there. I did see large cat tracks inside Cold Spring Cave and a few in the drainage areas. I did not see any snakes but a snake track of one inside Cold Spring Cave.
All of the area was very clean and just a few instances of vandalism. The hiker pottery museums are becoming abundant and would like to discourage people from doing this and leave the sites as you found them.
Weather in early April was amazing. I made sure to time the trip based along no rain forecasts. Temperature was in the high 20s one night and during the day it would warm up to the 70s. Very low humidity so hydration important.
Hard to recommend on how many days you will need. I chose 4 days and this was perfect and allowed me to explore some of the river ruins.
In regard to the video, I chose to include many minutes of driving the Butler Wash road. I wish that this had been available to me prior so I could get an idea what condition the road would be in. I also included excessive footage of the Procession Panel. Many people were asking questions about the glyphs and thought this would give people an idea of the procession characters.
Along the Chinle
Eliminator, Benihana, Fudgesicle, and myself make the trek out to the big Chinle Wash Anasazi ruins on the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation. Located along a meander of Chinle Wash where it cuts through Comb Ridge, this ruin is awesome and huge! You can see and read more about this ruin in House of Rain by Craig Childs, as well as Sandstone Spine by David Roberts. Don't ask for directions other than what I've listed above; I'm not going to give it out.
I know this video doesn't have sound; I don't have my microphone hooked up to this computer. I am working on a version with both music and some narration. Hold tight until then.
Southwest Tour Day 4 Utah - gas in the AM -Blanding UT
Cruisin' Blanding
shitest town n da WORLD!!!!
Edge of the Cedars Museum, Blanding, Utah
In the heat of the summer we spend most of our travel time above 9,000 ft. But our fall trip planning has already started. The Comb Ridge, Blanding, Bluff area is always one of our destinations. The Edge of the Cedars Museum is our go to spot for information about the San Juan County area. There is more in this massive county than one could possibly see and do in a lifetime of weekends.
Jay Redd
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2009 Blanding Raid at the home of Dr. James Redd. Interview with Joe Mozingo and Phil Lyman
The 2009 Blanding raid at the home of Dr. James Redd. Full interview found here
Road Trip USA: Prospector Motor Lodge Motel (Blanding, Utah)
En esta ocasión nos alojamos en un motel de Blanding, ya en Utah. El baño no es ideal, pero el resto de la habitación está en buenas condiciones y es grande. En el exterior, una considerable cantidad de gatos merodea esperando que alguien les eche un poco de comida.
Tour the Ruins at Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum Park Manager Teri Paul takes visitors on a tour of the ruin located behind the museum in Blanding, Utah. It is an actual Chacoan Great House.
Utah Navajo Health Systems Health Center - Blanding, UT
A quick update at the UNHS Blanding, Utah project site, future home of 42,167 square feet of brand new healthcare services for the community.
Pilfered artifacts, three suicides and the struggle over federal land in Utah
Cave Canyon Towers in Bears Ears National Monument in Cedar Mesa, Utah, part of the region plagued by looting. For decades the empty desert region at the junction of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico known as the Four Corners was a free-for-all for treasure hunters looking to pick the region clean of Native American artifacts. Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: Todays most popular stories on The Washington PostThen on the morning of June 10, 2009, federal agents arrived in force in Blanding, Utah. Just as the morning light was creeping upon on the tiny town, more than 100 agentsreportedlyfanned out. They pounded on doors at eight houses in town, while other members of the FBI andBureau of Land Management (BLM) executed similar raids across the region. Twenty-three men and women were scooped into custody, the fruit of a two-and-a-half year investigation.
San Juan Career Fair 2015
Funded by a grant from American Express, Junior Achievement of Utah sponsored a career fair at Monument Valley High School on the Navajo Reservation in San Juan County for the forth year in a row. Through this career fair, JA was able to reach rural students and provide them with a motivating keynote speaker, classes on skills for career success and a career expo where they were introduced to a wide variety of career and education options.
Edge of the Cedars
Slideshow of Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding, Utah.
Ancient Indian Ruins Southern Utah
Ancient Indian Ruins Southern Utah
soundcloud.com
SJH Homecoming Video
Office Olsen & Office Bake
serving and protecting San Juan High School - Home of the Broncos!!!!!!
Recapture Canyon Field Trip
Recapture Creek is in a spectacular canyon with an astounding prehistory, as evidenced by the number and quality of its cultural resources. In 2006, unknown individuals illegally constructed an off-road vehicle (ORV) route through Recapture. The illegal route was built directly through archaeological sites, and crosses the creek several times. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) eventually issued a temporary closure for the illegal route in 2007, and has started a criminal investigation that is still ongoing. Subsequent to BLM's closure, San Juan County requested a right-of-way (ROW) for the illegal ORV route. Even though the BLM is still conducting its criminal investigation, the agency began processing the County's ROW application. Due to the area's archeological significance, and in order to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, BLM has begun a consultation process with interested parties. SUWA is an interested party because we petitioned the BLM to close the route, and we are participating in the consultation process, along with the State Historic Preservation Office, professional archaeologists, other environmental and cultural resource protection organizations, the Ute Tribe, a local ORV advocacy group, the cities of Blanding and Monticello, and San Juan County. In addition, the Hopi Tribe has submitted letters to the BLM requesting the permanent closure of the unauthorized route in Recapture Canyon to motorized vehicles due to the cultural resources issues.
There is sound basis for closing the route to motorized vehicle use to protect the cultural resources, as current research indicates that there is a direct correlation between the vandalizing and looting of cultural resources and access by ORVs. Sites visible from ORV routes are much more likely to be vandalized.
Besides the NHPA process which the field trip in this video was part of, BLM has indicated that it will conduct an environmental review and publish an Environmental Assessment for public review and comment before determining whether the agency will grant a ROW for the illegal route to San Juan County.
The players:
San Juan County Commissioner Stevens - white hat, big horse, blue shirt
Monticello BLM Field Manager Tom Heinlein - light shirt, baseball cap
BLM Archaeologist Laird Naylor - dark blue shirt, dark hair
Rose Chilcoat from Great Old Broads for Wilderness - light shirt/shorts, big brimmed hat, sunglasses
SUWA Field Advocate Brooke Williams - Narrator