Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5055 - 5089 feet
Cellphone: 0-2 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: MM 23
Fee: none
Attractions: cliff dwelling
The Overlooked Ruin is located in the Montezuma Creek area between Blanding and Monticello, Utah. The ruin is close to the road but easily missed due to the camouflaged nature of its construction and a few trees that block it from view. We made up the name which we chose because the ruin didn't appear on the list of sites that we had composed in the area which is understandable as it is easily overlooked.
The ruin is tucked away in the recessed part of a sandstone outcrop a little more than 30 feet above the road.
There isn't really a trail to follow but enough people have gone up the hill to leave partial routes.
With no trail getting up to the ruin is a little clumsy but the distance is short and it only takes a couple of minutes.
There isn't a lot to the site. We are adding it more for completeness to give a better idea of how the area was used and populated.
We were able to peer inside the ruin without scrambling all the way up to the entrance.
The ceiling appeared to be free of soot so we are guessing it was a large granary. The Dominguez/Escalante Journal mentions them coming across a Hopi granary and that the corn and such was kept in clay jars. It's neat to imagine ceramic jars full of seeds, beans and corn when you look within one of these granaries. Maybe even a small metate and mano as well.
