Round Trip Distance: 2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4702 - 4833 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Cold Spring
Trailhead GPS: 37.36419, -109.62705
Fee: $5/person/day
Attractions: ruins, rock art
The Ladder Panel is located on the Butler Wash side of Comb Ridge west of Bluff, Utah. The panel is found along with a few other petroglyphs, some pictographs, and some minor ruins with grinding slicks and sharpening grooves. In an alcove high up on the north side of the canyon tucked away out of view from below is the Eagles Nest and one other cliff dwelling. The popular Cold Spring Cave is found in the next canyon to the south while another cliff dwelling is located to the north that we are calling the Hidden Cove Ruin.
From Bluff head west for about 4 miles and turn right onto the Butler Wash Road which is across the highway from the Airport Road. When you reach the BLM kiosk at the 1 mile point of the Butler Wash Road you will need to stop and pay the requisite fee before proceeding. From the kiosk it is another 6.5 miles to the turnoff to the trailhead. For turn-by-turn directions enter 37.36419, -109.62705 into your driving app.
A high clearance vehicle might be needed after turning off of the Butler Wash Road to make it the last several hundred yards to the trailhead. After parking look for the brown mylar marker that shows where the trail begins by crossing the shallow wash.
After crossing the shallow wash the route follows the remnants of an old 4WD road across the greasewood flats. In this photo the canyon directly ahead is where the Ladder Panel is located along with some cliff dwellings and other rock art. On the left is the canyon where Cold Spring Cave is found. From this spot you can also look to the right of the Ladder Panel canyon and see a small cove where another ruin is hidden away. One thing about hiking the Butler Wash side of Comb Ridge is that even if you turn up the wrong canyon you will probably find some sort of ruin or rock art.
After crossing the greasewood flats there is a pretty easy, well worn, route that will get you through Butler Wash.
The next shallow wash that comes up is the one that drains out of Ladder Canyon. After crossing this wash the trail splits where the left fork leads on over into Cold Spring Cave Canyon and the right fork leads along the south side of the Ladder Canyon wash.
Now that you are in the correct canyon all you have to do is work your way up the wash exploring every alcove that comes along.
Upon reaching the first big alcove on the right there is a large red boulder with some grinding slicks.
On the back wall of the alcove you should be able to spot a few petroglyphs including these sheep.
The Ladder Panel is on the right wall of the canyon about 20 feet or so past the alcove. Of the 2 ladders in this panel the larger ladder seems to dwarf the human like figures making it appear like a really big ladder.
A big ladder like that might have been used to get to cliff dwelling in the next alcove up the canyon. The Eagles Nest is in the second alcove on up the canyon but that cliff dwelling has moki steps leading down to it from above and is probably much to high up for any practical ladder to reach from below. It also might be that the ladder was just used to create the petroglyphs and nothing more.
Among some of the other images on the Ladder Panel there is a bear paw, several sheep, and a couple of figures that appear to be waving a greeting.
On the south side of the canyon downstream from the Ladder Panel there is another alcove that is worth scrambling up to and exploring. We saved it for on the return trip.
This alcove has a few pictographs.
Included are several groups of painted hands.
Here are some fainter stylized painted hands of a different color.
