Round Trip Distance: 1.7 miles
Difficulty: Difficult
Elevation: 5668 - 6016 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Kachina Bridge
Fee: none
Attractions: ruin, rock art
Poison Ivy Ruin is a name that we are giving to an unlisted site in Natural Bridges National Monument west of Blanding, Utah. All that is left of the ruin are some wall remnants but there are other things of interest like pictographs, grinding slicks, sharpening grooves, and some of the type of material that was used for making sleeping mats.
The hike begins at the Kachina Bridge trailhead which you can enter into your driving app for turn-by-turn directions.
Leave the paved path that leads to the Kachina Bridge Overlook at the sign that points out the route to the sites within the canyon.
As the trail approaches the canyon floor take the trail on the left towards Owachomo Bridge.
The trail passes above a spillover that usually has a pool of water below it. From here you will want to find a route that will get you up onto the second bench above the canyon on the left.
There are no official trails here but the are some faint routes that are already made that you can follow. The terrain is probably steeper than it looks in this photo.
After some difficult scrambling down the bench you will come to an overhang at the point of the canyon.
A few ruin remnants can be found beneath the overhang.
On around the corner there is a route that leads along a narrow bench into a side canyon.
Here there are more ruin remnants.
Some pictographs can be found on the cliff in a few places around the ruins.
Here is an interesting little anthropomorphic image.
There is one panel with at least 17 painted hands. A few more can be seen in some smaller panels.
Further down the cliff is a little man with 3 fingers or bird hands.
Several rocks with grinding slicks can be found around the ruin.
These look like sharpening grooves that form an image of a ladder.
The Poison Ivy Ruin is somewhat difficult to get to and shouldn't be attempted by casual hikers.
