Trail: Arch Canyon and Hotel Rock, Utah
Club: Fractured Axle Club Run

This article includes directions, trail description, historic information, trail reports, and 6 pictures.

TRAIL DESCRIPTIONS

Both trails are in SE Utah about 20 miles west of Blanding off Hwy 95. Arch Canyon is an easy to moderate trail about eight miles long, staying in the bottom of the Canyon the whole way. It crosses the creek in the bottom over 30 times. Hotel Rock is a shorter but much more difficult trail located above Arch Canyon on the north side. Both offer beautiful scenery and Anasazi Indian ruins.

DIRECTIONS

Exit Hwy 95 just as you climb out of Comb Wash between mile markers 107 and 108. After turning north off Hwy 95 go north 2.3 miles. Just before crossing the creek turn left along the creek's south side. In a few tenths of a mile you will go through a gate and there will be a registration box for the Arch Canyon trail. The trail head for Hotel Rock is within sight of the registration box but back to the east and on the north side of the creek.

SCHEDULING & OVERNIGHTING

One day for driving and exploring each trail is recommended. Camping is available very near the trail heads and Blanding is only about half an hour away if you prefer to do you 4-wheeling out of a more civilized base camp (as in Motel). We finished the Hotel Rock trail in time to drive to the end of the Arch Canyon trail and stay at a very scenic and secluded camp site there. This did not leave any time for exploring Arch Canyon on the way in but we had ample time to explore on the way out the next day.

ANASAZI RELIGION

Both trails feature some very interesting Anasazi Indian ruins. The Anasazi believed that Tawa, the Creator, created all the stars, the planets and the earth out of black nothingness. They believed that Tawa first created life deep within the earth in the form of insect creatures. But the creatures fought and quarreled rather than living in peace and worshiping Tawa. This displeased Tawa who then created successively higher life forms closer and closer to the surface of the earth. Eventually he created the Anasazi and brought them to the surface through a 'sipapu' hole. He was pleased with the Anasazi since they tended their crops, worshiped Tawa and lived peacefully with one another. Indeed the Anasazi Indians appear to have been peaceful farmers throughout the history of their civilization.

ANASAZI HISTORY

The history of the Anasazi dates back about 2,000 years when they drifted into this area. They farmed the fertile bottom areas, and built the structures seen along the trails. The structures were used to store their grain, to live in and to protect them from neighboring raider tribes that were a real problem for the peaceful Anasazi toward the end of their civilization. The Anasazi disappeared from the four corners area in the late 13th century, apparently due to an extended drought. So the ruins in this area are at least 700 years old. You will see wooden sticks that they used in these ruins that must be around 1,000 years old but look very much like the wood laying along the side of the trail.

THE FRACTURED AXLE CLUB

The Fractured Axle Club is an informal group of 4-wheelers from all across the country that met on on the Prodigy Offroad BB and talk vehicle build ups and plan trips there. We had just finished the Hole in the Rock trail a little over an hour's drive to the west. We made camp at the trailhead just as it was turning dark. This was very confusing for our group since this was one of the few times we had natural light to set up our tents :-) Our group consisted of CRACKER in his 67 Bronco from Pueblo, CO, Lizard and Sudie in their brown CJ-7 from Salt Lake City, UT and me in my black Bronco II from Nebraska. We enjoyed a moonlight evening around the campfire.

HOTEL ROCK

The Hotel Rock trail head was right where we camped. There is a rumor that the Fractured Axle Club did not recognize this as the trail head and spent nearly an hour looking for it - but this is completely unfounded and unsubstantiated. I can attest that rumor is without substance as I was leading that morning. Anyway, we left camp and got to the trail head about an hour latter :-) The trail gets very difficult very soon. Steep rock ledges seem to come one right after another. Despite the difficulty we witnessed a stock Montero (except for somewhat oversized tires) complete the trail. We talked to the driver at Hotel Rock and found that his 30 years of 4- wheeling experience had a lot to do with his completing the trail without assistance.

Most Difficult Obstacle

This steep rough rock face was the the most challenging obstacle on the trail. It very definitely got my attention especially when I came back down and was not able to keep all four tires on in contact with the rock. CRACKER is shown going up here in his classic Bronco. It is nearly as bad going down the other side.

Anasazi Ruins at Hotel Rock

These are the Anasazi ruins that were built into Hotel Rock. Hotel Rock had softer strata in the lower layers which eroded out and made a handy location for these cliff dwellings. Fractured Axle Club members can be seen exploring one of several "rooms" of Hotel Rock. We discovered many pieces of broken pottery and arrow head material which we left undisturbed as previous visitors had also been thoughtful enough to do.

Narrow Off Camber Ledge Trail

Lizard is shown here coming back down the trail on a narrow off camber ledge. The drop off to Lizard's left is plenty deep enough to cause a roll if one slips a tire off the edge. I was very appreciative of some helpful ground guiding as I drove down.

Beautiful and Rugged Country

This is beautiful and rugged country. You can see Comb wash below in the distance and the rugged Hotel Rock trail landscape in the foreground. Just down the trail a fork to the right takes you to an Arch canyon overlook. Lizard is shown here working his CJ-7 down the trail. CRACKER had to be back in Pueblo Monday morning to adjust some spines so he headed back just after we completed the Hotel Rock trail Sunday Afternoon.

ARCH CANYON

Since it was only mid-afternoon Lizard, Sudie and I decided to see if we could get to the end of Arch Canyon before dark and camp in a more secluded spot. We made it in plenty of time even after taking time to explore the first Anasazi ruin we came to on the trail. We were rewarded with a very scenic and secluded camp site with an inspiring view of Cathedral Arch. The trail is easy for the most part with only a few steep and sandy climbs out of the many stream crossings to make you think about locking in the front hubs. There are some rocky sections toward the end where the low speed of low range makes for more comfortable driving.

Scenic Stream Crossing

Lizard can be seen here in one of the more scenic stream crossings. There are over 30 in this beautiful canyon.

Anasazi Cliff Dwelling Ruins

The small figures in the middle of this picture are Lizard and Sudie. They are standing on a ledge that runs between some of the better preserved Anasazi ruins we found. At the left edge of the picture is a long dwelling that is divided into rooms. The walls were "plastered" smooth with mud and you could still see the imprints of the hands that did the plastering. Sudie noticed that those hands were about the same size as her right hand. An Anasazi about her size did the plastering something in the order of a thousand years ago. The ruins toward the right edge of the ledge may have been a sort of a guard house. The rock face below and in front of the ledge is too steep to climb. A very narrow and tenuous path climbs the rock wall from the side canyon around the corner from the "guard house". These dwellings could have been defended easily by just one or two Anasazi.

We stopped and explored several other Anasazi ruins on the way out. Lizard's GPS was indispensable for locating the ruins. We used the coordinates from a story by Larry Heck of Pass Patrol which had recently been published in 4WD and Sport Utility Magazine (September 1995 issue, The Ancient Ones of Comb Ridge, page 60). Even when we stopped at the exact coordinates we found that the ruins blended in so well with the canyon walls that they were still sometimes difficult to pick out. We would have missed most of the ruins without those coordinates.

We noticed some evidence of a recent flood of sorts. Tall grass and plants were laid back over much of the canyon floor. They still held some of the flood residue they had caught when the water was higher. One might want to keep the possibility of high water from a sudden rain in mind when picking a camping site.

Even with all the exploring we were out of Arch Canyon by early afternoon and started back toward more modern civilization.

                   ____The Flatlander____

Wayne L. Bennett      88 Bronco II          Fractured Axle Club, USA
aka The Flatlander    33" BFG Moab MTs      Red Rock 4-Wheelers, UT
FCXT62A@Prodigy.com   ARB, Trac-Lok         Black Hills 4-Wheelers, SD
Grand Island, NE      4.56 gears, 6K Warn   UFWDA, Tread Lightly