Bluff, Utah
Bluff, Utah is another Desert Southwest town with incredible access and opportunities for adventure. The Abajo Mountains (hiking, fishing, backcountry skiing) are 25 miles north of town. The mysterious and heavily contested Cedar Mesa area (canyoneering, archeological sightseeing, hiking) is 40 miles to the west. Numerous national parks and monuments sit within striking distance – Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods, Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde, Arches, Canyonlands, and Hovenweep. Mountain bikers tired of slickrock come to Bluff for the maze of dirt trails that weave through the surrounding hills and mesas. Bluff also happens to be the put-in for whitewater trips embarking down the meandering San Juan River. What Bluff lacks in population, it certainly makes up for in recreation.
Recent Articles
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Finding the Lost City of the Lukachukais
Lost cities don’t exist. They are confined to the bottoms of oceans and 19th-century jungles. As children, we all eventually give up on looking for buried treasure in backyards, or undiscovered, ancient ruins down the block because at this point humanity has been around long enough to stumble over most of them. Long before I […]
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San Juan River Rafting
The colors of the San Juan River near Mexican Hat, Utah The San Juan river is a fun desert float in Southern Utah that can be run in 2 to 7 days depending on where you put in and take out. Most trips launch at either Sand Island or Mexican Hat and take-out at Mexican […]
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The Battle for The Bears Ears, Part V: A Personal View
This is the fifth and final installment of a series of articles examining protection of Cedar Mesa and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. On my first day as a ranger I climbed the Bears Ears. Visible more than 100 miles away from my home in New Mexico, they stood like two beacons above the desert, […]
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The Battle for The Bears Ears, Part IV: The Trouble With Archaeology
This is the fourth installment of a series of articles examining protection of Cedar Mesa and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. When it comes to protecting the land, archaeology is the problem from hell. Ruins deteriorate and crumble away, vulnerable to animal disturbance, erosion, and weathering. Looters and vandals can destroy sites just as […]
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The Battle for The Bears Ears, Part III: Road Wars
This is the third installment of a series of articles examining protection of Cedar Mesa and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. On Christmas Day of 1879, George B. Hobbs gazed out over Cedar Mesa to contemplate his fate. Along with three other scouts from the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition, Hobbs found himself without food, on a […]
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The Battle for The Bears Ears, Part II: The End of Obscurity
This is the second installment of a series of articles examining protection of Cedar Mesa and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. In his 1996 book In Search of the Old Ones, adventure writer David Roberts described stumbling across Moon House, which he called “The most striking Anasazi ruin I had ever seen”: I had […]
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The Battle for The Bears Ears, Part I: The Legislative Landscape
This is the first installment of a series of articles examining protection of Cedar Mesa and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. On a clear day, the Bears Ears offer nothing but peace. The twin buttes stand eerily silent in the thin air, rippled only by a whispering breeze or the cries of a lazy raven […]
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Patagonia Pulls Out of Outdoor Retailer
On December 28th, Barack Obama designated the Bears Ears region in south-eastern Utah as a national monument. That move was immediately met with strong opposition from Utah politicians including the mayor of Monticello Tim Young, Utah congressmen Jason Chaffetz & Rob Bishop, Senator Orrin Hatch, and Utah Governor Gary Herbert. On Friday, Governor Herbert signed a resolution advising President Trump to overturn […]
Maps
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Bears Ears National Monument Map
Bears Ears National Monument is a new national monument in southeast Utah, named for the centrally located Bears Ears Peaks. President Obama signed the monument into law on December 28th 2016. The national monument has many wilderness study areas and consists primarily of unprotected BLM land, used heavily by everyone from hikers and backpackers to the […]
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Map of Cedar Mesa
Cedar Mesa is home to the well-explored Grand Gulch as well as many other lesser-known canyons filled with Anasazi ruins, artifacts, and artwork. The area is basically a museum without the hours, fees, and glass cases. At least for now. Cedar Mesa could become part of a huge and heavily-contested proposed national monument in Southeast […]
Featured Mountains in Bluff
| Mountain | Approx. Elevation |
|---|---|
| McCracken Point | 5,308 ft (1,618 m) |
| Chimney Rocks | 4,514 ft (1,376 m) |
| Cedar Mesa | 6,752 ft (2,058 m) |
| The Horn | 5,226 ft (1,593 m) |
| Comb Ridge | 5,413 ft (1,650 m) |
| Navajo Twins | 4,393 ft (1,339 m) |
