Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6237 - 6265 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 20 mins.
Trailhead: Beef Basin Divide
Fee: none
Attractions: cliff dwellings, rock shelter
The Double Room Ruin is located in the Beef Basin Area northwest of Monticello, Utah. Within a few hundred feet there are also the ruins of a small rock shelter that are worth noticing as well. The rock shelter is beneath a small overhang in the south facing cliffs right above the road while right around the corner on the west facing cliffs of the same rocky outcrop within a larger overhang is the ruin with two rooms.
At the kiosk junction in the lower end of House Park follow the road to the left that heads toward Stanley Spring and Beef Basin.
Near the 3.3 mile point from House Park continue straight through the 5-way junction. It is at this point that the Ruin Canyon Road branches off on the left and the Beef Basin Spring Road does so on the right. Just past the intersection there is a Beef Basin sign on the right side of the road. The rock shelter ruins are one tenth of a mile past this point in the cliffs on the right.
Looking to the right before the road reaches the crown of the hill that divides the Ruin Canyon/Beef Basin Spring areas from Beef Basin the edge of the rockshelter is visible beneath a small overhang.
After walking up from the road the blackened overhang reveals the smoke stains from the many campfires that once warmed the small shelter.
The rock shelter is better appreciated when viewed from the open end. A large slab of rock lays parallel with the cliff making a natural border and foundation upon which to place the dry stacked rocks that make up the man made portion of the walls.
Continuing up the road to the crest of the divide there is a short pull off on the right.
Here there is an obvious trail that leads a few hundred feet to the cliff that can be seen just sticking up above the trees a few hundred feet away.
Beneath a much larger overhang than that of the rock shelter there are 2 rooms built up off the ground on a large slab of rock. Unlike the dry stacked stones of the rock shelter the walls here were held into place with mortar.
Interestingly within the room on the right the wall was extended to cover over the sloping back wall of the overhang that originally communicated with the 2nd room. We conjectured that this may have been done to control the ventilation of the room so that it would hold more heat.
Within the room on the left the same creviced area of the back wall was left exposed. Since then it appears that packrats have been busy making use of the confined area as they are accustomed to doing beneath boulders and such.
The Double Room Ruin has a nice view looking west out over Beef Basin. We circled in red a few of the other sites that are visible from here. The two dots on the left are where small ruins are located on a bench just above the road. In the middle is a site with a large mound of rubble from a pueblo that was perched upon a small hill. Way off to the right is the approximate location of another small hill with a much more minor rubble pile ruin.
Fortunately the pull out here where we are parked offers a good clue to the location of this mostly hidden ruin. Without that clue those without a map or the GPS waypoints would undoubtedly pass right by and miss the ruins. Doubtless there are probably similar ruins that we also unknowingly passed by without notice. Given the time it would be fun to do more exploring to search them out. If you would like to see these ruins for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.