Bears Ears and Windows

Bears Ears
A huge chunk of SE Utah is becoming known as "Bears Ears", after a pair of buttes found there. The area has recently become the focus of a "protection" movement. Google "bears ears" for details on that issue. Smaller parts within the area have been the subject of protection efforts for years, some successful such as the Grand Gulch Primitive Area and Natural Bridges National Monument.
The proposed conservation area contains more than 100,000 Native American sites, 2000+ on Cedar Mesa alone. This is along with spectacular geologic features. There is even a splash of pioneer history, two legs of the Mormon or Hole In The Rock trail traverse the area. The ancient cultural sites, cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and such, date from 700 to 10,000 years in age. Several years ago a bone was found with the image of a Mammoth carved on it. The topography ranges from Colorado River basin desert to 11K' mountains and is currently mostly BLM and National Forest with little travel restriction other than the standard "stay the trail".

There are few places left where the back country 4wd enthusiast can drive to such a concentration of pre-Columbian sites like this. In many spots it is difficult to walk without crushing 1000 year old artifacts. For the most part there are no fences, "Keep Off The Ruins" signs or the like. Frankly the area needs some degree of protection. It has been said, on a semi serious note that as much as half the population of adjacent Blanding UT has been involved in the illegal artifact trade/looting in some way.

The point of this post is folks should see the writing on the wall and if interested in this sort of thing, plan to see it sooner rather than later. The hundreds of miles of trails could very easily soon see some closures.
There is already plenty of info available as to the trails, major sites, GPS #'s/tracks and trip write ups. So do a little research and enjoy.



Now the Windows part.
These shots focus on one small facet of one insignificant, tiny, well trampled ruin. Many sites are large, like "multifamily" size. Most require a little hiking, anywhere from 50 yards to a mile.

After a casual look see, one thing intrigued me, the different window treatments used.

Early "pass thru" with solid surface counter, sporting a stone header with stone trim piece below.


Stone header with a nook and sticks for trim.


Built in shelf above header.



In other news.
Palm prints of an ancient mason in the mud chinking.


Ancient tiny corn cobs.


Metate and more corn.


Corn and pottery bits.


Pottery bits and corn.


Make your plans now and Tread Lightly.

Much of the area is remote so have a healthy respect for mother nature and above all​

​

 

I'm having trouble seeing your images. Even the one in your sig.

We were just in this area. Now I wish I'd known about these places then. Went from the Needles district through the Manti-La Sal NF on UTBDR to Blanding. Then on to Valley of the Gods and then over to the Glen Canyon/Lake Powell area to do a majority of the Hole in the Rock trail before heading north again to explore the Maze. 14 glorious days all total.

 

Photobucket, what can I say. They have sunk to new lows the last two days. Supposed to be back up "shortly" LOL.
Your sig is also MIA.

 

Ha. So it is.

 

@Digiratus If you guys did the middle leg of HITR from UT276 to Cottonwood Canyon you could have spit on the ruin in the OP.

 

We drove through/between the Ears on the way from the maze to moab this spring, didn't realize there was so much history in the area, great info. @Squeaky Penguin

 

Yeah, good info indeed. I would like to go back and explore this area more along with Beef Basin. Looks like lots of areas to travel and explore in there.

 

@Blackdawg

I guess we were right there and didn't even know it. Would have been interesting to see that history indeed.

 

No doubt.

Damn.


Oh well. back we go!

 

Beef Basin is awesome, I spent a day and a half there and would love to go back.

 

Typical housing.



Typical granaries.



Typical grafitti.



Some sites are harder to spot than others. 200mm zoom and cropped.

 

@Dirty Pool was certainly right on saying visit here sooner rather than later. Curious what the immediate future holds for the area.

 

All the tiny details are not finalized but IMO it looks as if this "National Monument" designation is the best possible long term outcome for this area. The worst being Utah taking it over and selling it off to the highest commercial bidder. That's not an exaggeration.

When the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument was designated from plane old BLM land, not much changed. This looks to be the case with Bears Ears. All present recreational activities including off road adventuring on established routes will remain. The only real difference is no commercial/mining/energy development and the gates that come with it.................YES!

This 1.35 million acre tract runs from the San Juan River north practically to Moab and from Glen Canyon Nat Rec Area east to US route 191. So access to places like the two southern legs of HITR trail and A*** Canyon should stay open. All of Canyonlands NP is but a little spot compared to the size of this place.

The only draw back I see is the publicity resulting in increased visitation. This happened to the northern leg of the HITR road when GSENM was created. The trail turned into a crowded frustrating SUV fest. So no excuses, see it now.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/obama-tags-bears-ears/

 

Good info.

I've heard back and forth opinions from different groups on the decision to make it a National Monument. Lots of speculation happening it seems.

If I'm still able to access the area on preexisting routes, I'll be happy.

 

Care to share anything to the downside you might have heard?

 

From the little I've read, there seems to be a conception, especially among those in the offroad community, that this will negatively impact access to the area. I.E. 'protect' the area by shutting off vehicle access.

I've also read about increased visitation and tourism, with the possibility of visitor centers and paved roads. Similar, I guess, to Natural Bridges National Monument.

I've not seen anything that explains exactly what impact this will have on the area, but lots of interest groups, slanted media organizations, and companies voicing their opinion, good or bad.

 

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4675012-155/mike-lee-staffer-says-bears-ears

Obama declares Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah

Done deal...

 

Fast facts
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/BE QA Fast Facts_0.pdf

 

It truly makes you wonder what will be closed off!