Round Trip Distance: 2.1 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5347 - 5467 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: 37.60970, -109.60972
Fee: none
Attractions: ruins, pictographs
Located west of Blanding, Utah in the south end of Whiskers Draw, near its conjunction with Cottonwood Wash, are the ruins of a couple of small cliff dwellings and some pictographs. Only traces of the first ruin are still remaining but the second ruin has fared better.
To get there, drive west on UT-95 from US-191 and turn right onto the Cottonwood Wash Road. Continue for 3.9 miles and turn left onto an unmarked 4WD road. There is room to park a trailer at the turnoff. Those in 2WD vehicles can choose to park at the turnoff and walk the 4WD road if they choose. To drive it you will need a high clearance vehicle, enough skill to avoid some deep ruts, and possibly the use of the 4WD. If the road is muddy come back some other time.
Follow the 4WD road for about 1 mile to where it drops down into Cottonwood Wash at the junction with Whiskers Draw.
After parking begin hiking up Whiskers Draw which is both pleasant and easy.
This part might be a little trickier but before you've hiked up Whiskers Draw for a half mile there will be a narrow wash that connects on the right. A little past that there is a pretty easy spot where you can climb out of the wash to higher ground. It looks a little like an old cattle trail.
Once you get onto the higher ground head over to the short cliff and begin exploring.
The first ruin and pictographs aren't visible from below but when you see where they are it looks like a place that might be worth checking out. Once you get part way up to them the pictographs become visible.
The ruins look like a single masonry room that was built between the cliff and a boulder.
The pictographs consist of 4 anthropomorphic figures that are a little fuzzy and a few various other shapes. There isn't much to them but it is interesting to notice the style and that they used mostly white and yellow paint.
To get to the next ruins we chose to hug the cliff to get around a deep gully on some slickrock. The other options would be to go around the gully on the downhill end or find a spot to hike in and out of the gully.
It requires a little scrambling up and along some slickrock to take the higher route but you end up on the same level as the ruins going this way. The other option is to stay down lower, hike a little past the ruins, and then scramble up from there. We took the high route to the ruins and the low route back.
The high route allowed us to come up from behind the ruins where there is more of them visible.
This is the view coming up from the lower direction. The ruin looks like a single room until you scramble around to the back.
There isn't much in the way of pottery but there are a few pieces. Be sure to leave these where you find them for others to enjoy.
