Do you know what time it is? It's Jeep adventures time!!!!! It's the time of year we embark on our annual trek from Scottsdale, AZ to Moab, Utah and everywhere in between for the Moab Easter Jeep Safari gathering.
Our usual stop for a couple of nights is the Cottonwood Campground in Bluff, Utah. Bluff is a small town surrounded by red rock cliffs, Mormon settlement history and home to one of the best lemon zucchini cookies I have eaten. Which can be purchased at the Historic Pioneer Fort in town. The beautiful canyons in the Bluff area are laden with great high desert scenery of juniper trees and red rock formations with the sprinkling of ancient native lifestyles that draw us to explore this wonderful area.
This trip we chose to explore was located north of Bluff, along Montezuma Canyon Road, where we were surprised at the variety of interesting dwellings, ancient and modern, and many petroglyphs along the way.
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| Tracks 'stairs' carved into sandstone rock face leading upward to the cave. |
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| One of a couple modern homes built into Sandstone Hill. |
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| Zoom in - The house walls touch the cave walls |
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| Nice little 'home' set up in a natural cave |
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| Cliff ruins |
Another stop along the way we came across a large ancestral Puebloan community known as Coal Bed Village. This village flourished around 1150-1250 CE. Not much archeological excavation of the dwellings have been done, only a kiva and a few rooms. There are outlines of a some rock walls, rubble mounts and ground indentations of what once was can be seen today, making you wonder of the past lifestyles.
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| Standing stones - we wondered how they were used. |
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| Various pottery shards found on the site |
Halfway through the drive we visited the Three Kiva Pueblo which was inhabited by the Anasazi Indians some 1,000 years ago. It is maintained by the BLM and is open to the public. A team of Brigham Young University archaeologists revealed 14 rooms, 3 kivas, a ramada working area, a trash mount and a possible domesticated turkey pens. Today you can view partial building walls and one Kiva that has been reconstructed and you can actually climb into. See photos. It was a bonus to our already good day.
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| Showing partial dwelling walls and Kiva entrance |
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| Inside the Kiva |
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| Partial dwelling walls and room entrance door |
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| Dwelling walls
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We will end our tour by sharing various petroglyphs and ancient dwellings we encountered during our drive. This is just a few of the more unusual or unique ones of the many seen during the day.
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| Looks like bison and deer were the wildlife to hunt in the area. |
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| A colorful Collared Lizard |
Next we are on to Moab, Utah for Easter Jeep Safari. So come along for more Utah adventures.
Life is a grand adventure and any life worth living is worth recording.'' - A.A. Milne
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