Round Trip Distance: 2.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4582 - 4687 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: 37.33376, -109.62838
Fee: $5/day/person or $10/week
Attractions: cliff dwellings, rock art
The High Ledge Ruins are tucked away in one of the many side canyons on the Butler Wash side of Comb Ridge west of Bluff, Utah. The ruins were built in a high, almost inaccessible, alcove. In another alcove down in the wash below the High Ledge Ruins is a smaller ruin with a predominate spiral petroglyph for which we are calling it the Spiral Ruin. On the south side of the canyon across from the Spiral Ruin is an alcove that is higher up that has some petroglyphs and other ruins. From the south alcove there are good views of the High Ledge Ruins.
To get there head west out of Bluff for about 4 miles and turn right onto the Butler Wash Road which is right across US 163 from the Airport Road. At the 1 mile point of the Butler Wash Road there is a BLM kiosk and pay station.
From the pay station it is about 5.25 miles to where there is a road on the left that leads about another quarter mile to the unmarked trailhead. For turn-by-turn directions to the trailhead enter 37.33376, -109.62838 into your driving app. After parking search out whatever route that looks best for getting across Butler Wash.
Once on higher ground, on the west side of Butler Wash, head toward the mouth of the first canyon to the south.
While hiking up the canyon there a couple of places from which the High Ledge Ruins are partially visible.
Below the alcove of the High Ledge Ruins is another alcove that is down lower in the wash.
As you enter the lower alcove there are a few petroglyphs that include this pecked circle.
On top of the pile of rubble in front of the alcove there is a small single room ruin built around a boulder.
On the same mound there is another boulder with a spiral and others with grinding slicks and smaller petroglyphs.
On the wall of the alcove at about the same level are at least 3 or 4 painted hands.
Directly across from this alcove is another one that is worth visiting on the south side of the canyon that is higher up from the bottom of the wash.
This alcove has the remnants of several storage cysts and other rooms that were dug into the floor of the alcove.
On the back wall are a few pictographs that while easy to see are hard to determine what they are depicting. Other than that there are a few small petroglyphs on some of the rocks.
The best reason for scrambling up to the south alcove are some excellent views of the High Ledge Ruins. These are the ruins that are visible all the way on the left.
These are more towards the middle.
This is the view to the right of those.
And this is the far right hand side of the alcove.
We marked on the map and included a waypoint in the GPX file where the route up to the high alcove begins. As that route reaches the alcove there is a very exposed point that you will have to scramble past. After seeing it from the south alcove we decided the photos that we had taken from there would have to do. Perhaps in reality the exposure isn't as bad as it appears from across the canyon.
As can be seen there are a lot of interesting things to see in this particular canyon of Comb Ridge that make it worth exploring. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
