Ancient Kivas, Petroglyphs, and 100,000 Native American Sites Rest In This Utah Canyon

Bears Ears National Monument

Bears Ears isn’t just another chunk of Utah desert.
These canyons hide over 100,000 Native sites, including whole villages tucked into cliff walls and rock art panels older than Egypt’s pyramids.
Here are some some of the most remarkable parts of visiting Bears Ears National Monument.

See Morning Flames Light Up House on Fire

This famous spot in Mule Canyon gets its name from the rock above it that looks like flames when lit by morning sun.

Built around 1200 CE, the walls are made of stone and mud with small windows. The rooms were used both for living and food storage, with corn cobs and grinding stones still found on site.

You might spot tiny handprints on the walls made by kids who lived here 800 years ago.

The best time to see the “fire” effect is 10-11 AM when sun bounces off the canyon wall. The hike is only 2.5 miles round trip on an easy path that follows a stream bed.

Walk Through the Ancient Moon House Village

You’ll need a permit to visit this one.

Rules allow only four people in the main hallway at once and you can’t enter the Moon Room itself to protect the site.

The white moon-shaped dots painted on inside walls give it its name, and the rooms form a small village with both living spaces and food storage areas.

The site has 14 rooms and dates to the 1200s, with some walls still showing their white mud coating.

Some roof beams from juniper trees are still intact after 800 years. The trail drops 700 feet into the canyon and climbs steeply at the end to reach the ruins.

Cross a Narrow Bridge to The Citadel

The Citadel is one of the most stunning old sites in Utah, set up high for a good view of the land below.

You can only reach it by walking across a narrow rock bridge along a tiny finger of land, then scrambling down some slick rock to find this well-kept ruin.

The site sits at the end of a long, thin ridge with sheer drops on three sides, making it a natural fort.

From here, you can spot Seven Kivas site across the canyon and see for miles in all directions.

The trail is 6 miles total but mostly flat until the final stretch.

Meet the Ten-Inch Tall Wolfman Figure

The panel stretches about 100 feet along a cliff wall in Butler Wash.

Past this main figure, you’ll find bigger drawings on darker rock, including a shield, a person with a staff, and more.

Made by Basketmaker folks around 1,500 years ago, it shows not just the wolf-like being but also snakes, birds, and hand prints.

Near the panel, you can see where tools were sharpened on the rock face, leaving deep grooves. The site also has ruins with wall bases still standing on a shelf above the creek.

The 1-mile round-trip hike crosses a wash that can have water after rains. Look out for a five-foot-long snake etched into the rock near the end of the panel.

Follow Tiny People on Procession Panel

Carved into the rock on Comb Ridge’s east side, this panel tells a story over a thousand years old.

This 15-foot long rock art panel might show a big meeting or folks moving from one place to another, with tiny human shapes all lined up.

Made around 700 CE, it shows 179 small people walking in three lines toward a circle, along with deer, sheep, and a wolf.

Some of the tiny figures carry baskets or staffs, while others play flutes. The middle shows what might be a kiva (round meeting house) where the lines meet.

Look for the odd five-toed deer with a spear in it, and a sheep that seems to be turning a wheel.

The panel sits high on the ridge with views across Butler Wash, making for a tough 2.8-mile hike that climbs 600 feet.

Discover Utah’s Largest Rock Art Gallery

You’ll find Utah’s biggest group of rock carvings at Newspaper Rock along Indian Creek Scenic Byway west of US 191.

The 200-square-foot black rock face is packed with images of people, animals, handprints, and odd shapes.

With over 650 images carved by at least four different groups over 2,000 years, it’s like an old-time bulletin board. Images range from 2,000-year-old abstract shapes to horses with riders from the 1800s.

The rock gets its black color from desert varnish, a mix of clay, manganese, and iron that builds up over thousands of years.

The carvings are easy to spot since they cut through this dark coating to the lighter rock beneath. You can see the rock right from the parking area, no hiking needed.

Climb to the High Fortress of Monarch Cave

Set in a deep canyon ending at a tall cliff with a deep hollow, Monarch Cave has tall stone walls, both flat and curved, with small windows.

The homes here were left quickly 750 years ago, and it’s among the well-known Butler Wash ruins in the area.

The cave sits high on a cliff wall, making it a natural fort with narrow paths that are easy to guard.

The ruins show a small village of about 10-15 homes built into the back of the cave around 1250 CE.

After a big drought hit the area, folks left all at once, taking only what they could carry, leaving behind pots and tools. You can still see corn grinding spots worn into the rock floor.

The hike is 4 miles round trip and follows Butler Wash.

Count All Seven Kivas in Road Canyon

A kiva is a round room used by Pueblo folks for faith meetings and town talks.

They grew from simple pit homes, and might have been used for both daily life and special events.

Built around 1150-1200 CE, the site was home to a big group of 50-75 people.

It has seven of these round rooms (more than any other site in the area) along with homes and food storage bins.

The ruins sit about halfway up the north wall of Road Canyon on a wide rock shelf.

Peek Down Into a Real Kiva at Mule Canyon

This old site has both above-ground and below-ground homes: a kiva and tower that have been dug out and fixed up, plus a block of twelve rooms.

First used around 750 CE, it grew most from about 1000-1150.

The ruins sit right by the road with a short path, making them a good first stop for folks new to the area’s history.

You can go down a ladder into a kiva to see how these round, partly underground rooms were built.

The tower likely stood two stories tall and might have been used to watch for friends or foes coming down the canyon.

Fire pits, grinding stones, and 1,500 pots were found here during digs. Some folks called these people “Anasazi” but now most say “Ancestral Puebloans” out of respect for modern tribes who see these as their direct kin.

Stroll the Easy Path to Butler Wash Ruins

Butler Wash is like a big open-air museum of old sites in Bears Ears.

Hidden on the east side of Comb Ridge are miles of side canyons full of rock art and cliff homes.

In total, these homes have four kivas built like those at Mesa Verde, though one is square (most are round).

The site can be reached by a 1-mile path from a rest stop on Highway 95. The ruins were built around 1200 CE and had about 20 rooms when in use.

You can take an easy walk on a partly paved trail to an outlook over one of the biggest sites along Butler Wash.

Find Mystery Towers With No Homes Nearby

The Cave Tower path is a short 1½ mile walk to see the last few towers still up in all of Cedar Mesa.

Built around 1250 CE, these odd free-standing stone towers puzzle those who study them.

With no clear homes nearby, why these towers were built, maybe for keeping watch or for faith reasons, is still not known.

The site has what’s left of a round tower that likely stood two stories high.

Some think the towers might have been used to send smoke signals to distant sites. Others think they may have had to do with sky watching, as they line up with the sun’s path on the shortest day of the year.

Check Out Two Homes Stacked in Double Stack Ruin

Two hollows, one above the other, hold neat ruins and rock art in a canyon off the Lower Butler Wash Road.

Built around 1250 CE, this site shows how Pueblo folks used small spaces by building up rather than out. The ruins are set in two rock hollows, with living rooms on the bottom level and food storage above.

The site has clear mud handprints on walls where builders smoothed the wet clay. A small hidden path links the two levels, cut into the cliff face.

The hike is about 1 mile each way and easy to follow. Door frames in the homes are tiny, most under 4 feet tall, since the old Pueblo folks were shorter than most folks now.

Wood beams in the ruin came from trees over 10 miles away, showing how far builders went for good roof logs. The site has both red painted art and carved images, some showing odd bug-like beings.