Round Trip Distance: 100 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6226 - 6255 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: Ruin Canyon Junction
Fee: none
Attractions: ruins, petroglyphs
This small ruin can be found on the edge of a hill above the wash at the mouth of Ruin Canyon in the Beef Basin area southwest of Monticello, Utah. The ruin includes one room that still has some standing walls and several rubble piles that would have come from 2 or more additional rooms and maybe a tower. There is also a rock with a few petroglyphs and a few shards of pottery.
After finding your way to the main junction in House Park take the left fork toward Stanley Spring.
From House Park the road toward Stanley Spring and Beef Basin crosses a short divide that is a little rough in several places. At the 1.5 mile point from House Park there is a road that branches off on the right where the Beef Basin Loop begins. Going straight for another half mile the Beef Basin Wash road branches off on the left. (There is another stub road that branches off on the left before getting to the mouth of Beef Basin Wash that we never explored.) Continuing past the mouth of Beef Basin Wash there are several more rough spots at wash crossings before the road smooths out once again.
At the 3.3 mile point from House Park there is a 5-way junction. While road conditions can vary according to present and past weather a person should expect roads up to this point that are no worse than those already traveled to get to House Park.
At the 5-way junction take the left most road that leads a hundred yards or so to the edge of the hill before coming to an end.
The ruins sit right on the edge of the hill overlooking the mouth of Ruin Canyon.
The room that still has some walls standing is closest to the edge of the hill.
While standing near this room look down at the base of the wall to find a rock with a few petroglyphs.
The parts of the ruins that have now fallen into piles of rubble look to have comprised rooms that were much larger than the one that is still standing. When first built this ruin evidently would have looked much more impressive in size.
The styles of pottery represented by a few remaining shards are similar to those found at other ruins in the Beef Basin Area.
There is a nice campsite off to the side away from the ruins that we took advantage of for the night. As this was the height of rutting season the elk kept us up much of the night. We could hear a bull that was very close calling out on one side and a few cows chirping and moving about on the other. Our hope was that they wouldn't see our tent and decide it needed a trampling. We found their tracks the next morning and while during the night it sounded like they were right outside of the tent they were actually down over the side of the hill.
Anyway, looking north from this ruin in the direction of the Beef Basin Spring Road you should be able to spot the Beef Basin Spring Pueblo. The ruins at the mouth of Ruin Canyon are worth taking a few minutes to check out and of course if you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
