butler wash archeological ruin

Butler Wash was an easy hike to a great overlook on some really cool Indian archeological ruins. Although you aren't REAL close, you're close enough for a good look and if you have a telephoto lens for your camera, you can get some really good shots. If you like ancient cave dwellings and archeological ruins, you won't be disappointed on this one mile round trip hike. If you're in the area, this one is highly recommended!

The "tourist" version is certainly fine. (1 mile roundtrip over Navajo sandstone to the SE canyon rim where you look across at several different ruins. With any kind of telephoto at all, the picture should be great any time before early afternoon.But the FAR better mini-adventure is to drop down into the canyon from the S end of the parking lot and walk upcanyon to the actual ruins. (Be careful and practice good archaeological stewardship, please!)

Easy to access up a graded trail, amazing vantage points to see them from, and a convenient stop on a roadtrip offering restrooms and a place to stretch your legs.

The owner of Stone Lizard Lodging told us to stop here when we were telling him our plans for the day. There is just one small sign for the turn off and we would never had stopped if he had not recommened it. The hike is about a mile (maybe). It is through some high dessert with lots of little lizards and flowering cactus. It was pretty and it was early in the AM so it was warm and sunny but not hot. The path is marked pretty well and after a bit you come out onto some slick rock which has little rock cairns marking the way. Once you get across the rock there is a fenced in area with railing so you can look out over the edge of the canyon and see the ruins on the other side. It is a beautiful canyon. We were the only people there and it felt like we had gone back in time. It was just such a pretty little spot. Definately worth the short hike.

The web page pictures look great. But the sign with its parking area and trail registry are a snare and delusion. The trail along the wash amidst the mini-jungle goes on and on, with eventual view of a rubble pile is hardly the result we were looking for.And so next day (now that the Ranger at Natural Bridges has spilled the beans) we will go to the nearby (unmarked) paved road that leads to the real (unsigned) parking area that reads to the upland trail that has the view down into the ruin.Then we will write a real review.