One-way Distance: 0.7 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6142 - 6218 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 20 mins.
Trailhead: Ruin Canyon/Beef Basin Junction
Fee: none
Attractions: ruins
Ruin Canyon is located in the Beef Basin Area northwest of Monticello, Utah. This post describes finding a well preserved granary that is directly above the road near the 0.7 mile point as well as several other small ruins that are visible high up on the cliffs across the canyon.
After finding your way into the area using the directions in one of the earlier posts, such as the Catchment Ruins, when you reach the sign in this photo take the left fork toward Stanley Spring.
At the 3.3 mile point from the House Park junction there is a 5-way intersection where Ruin Canyon is to the left.
Stay to the right after turning off of the Beef Basin road toward Run Canyon. The left fork in this photo is a short stub road that leads to a nice camping spot and the Ruin Canyon Junction Ruin.
As the road heads into Ruin Canyon it first winds through a group of corrals that will make you feel like you are trespassing but fortunately that isn't the case. Make sure to leave any gates the way that you find them. They will probably be open but if by chance one of them is closed be sure to close it behind you.
The road into Ruin Canyon is rough in places such as where it crosses the main wash and there are also places where the brush will leave a lasting mark upon your vehicles paint. The route is level so hiking isn't a bad option.
Around the 0.7 mile point the granary will be above the road on the left. It is hidden behind a tree in this photo but it is easy enough to see as you are coming along the road.
As you can see the granary is still in very good condition. We took all of our photos from below rather than scrambling up onto the ledge where the granary sits.
Looking across the canyon and a little further to the left you should be able to pick out a couple of other ruins.
Hiking across the canyon and up to those ruins would have added several hours to this excursion so we used our binoculars to look them over and a zoom lens for the photos. The ruins are so far away that this is the best we could do with the camera. The ruin on the right is the easiest to pick out as it is in better condition than the partial ruin on the left. There is a gap, or crevice, in the cliff behind the ruin on the left so there might be a little more to it than is visible from here..
