Cross Canyon Ruins

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 3.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5093 - 5144 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 15 mins.
Trailhead: Cross Canyon
Fee: none
Attractions: Ruins and rock art

Cross Canyon crosses US-491 about 4 miles east of Dove Creek, Colorado where it runs southwest into Utah traveling through portions of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument along the way. This post covers 5 minor ruins that can be found within the first couple miles of the Cross Canyon trail.

West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Elevation: 7618 - 9287 feet
Cellphone: 1-5 bars
Time: 3 hrs.
Trailhead: Silvershield
Fee: none
Attractions: World's longest dino trackway

The West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway is located near the end of the Silvershield trail in Ouray, Colorado. Found at the site are 134 consecutive footprints that were left roughly 150 million years ago by a sauropod dinosaur. At 106 yards long they form the longest known dinosaur trackway in the world.

Cave of 200 Hands

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 13.4 - 17.2 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Elevation: 4988 - 5558 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 10 hrs. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Elephant Hill
Fee: $30/vehicle
Attractions: scenic views, pictographs

The Cave of 200 Hands is located in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, in a branch of Chesler Canyon, about 1 mile from the lower end of the Joint Trail. Besides the large number of painted hands that wallpaper the small, sheltered overhang there are a number of other images that include a long line of little men carrying backpacks. Further up the same side canyon another 500 feet or so is another nice panel of pictographs, while just above the main stream bed, just outside of the mouth of the canyon, are 3 or 4 panels of faded pictographs.

Bighorn Ruins

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 2.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5922 - 6151 feet
Cellphone: 0-2 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Slickhorn Canyon East Fork
Fee: $5/person/day, $10/week
Attractions: cliff dwellings, rock art

The Bighorn Ruins are located on a bench above a branch of the East Fork of Slickhorn Canyon in the Cedar Mesa area of Bears Ears National Monument west of Blanding, Utah. Besides the pictographs of a couple of bighorn sheep the site includes a half dozen or more cliff dwelling ruins and granaries that most of which are in near perfect condition. There are other less perfect ruins nearby that are also interestingly constructed and worth seeing. Besides the two bighorn images there is another nice anthropomorphic pictograph just around the corner and near an old rockshelter are several painted hands. Further west a few hundred feet on the same bench is a panel with over a dozen painted hands and another panel of three white ghost looking images. Higher up on the next bench above is a large boulder with some remnant walls on its very top and a spire that serves as a good landmark for finding the Bighorn Ruins.

Whitney Lake

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 5.2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 9,158 - 10,926 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 4 hrs.
Trailhead: Whitney Lake
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest hike

Whitney Lake is located in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area of the White River National Forest between Minturn and Leadville, Colorado. The quiet little mountain lake sits below timberline surrounded by conifer trees on all sides with the rock east facing slopes of Whitney Peak (13,271 ft.) in the background.