Day 1: Wondrous Wolf Man: We drive to Bluff and fill the gas tank for the adventure, then start up San Juan County Rd 262. Using the Tassoni book about the Cedar Mesa area (A Hiking Guide to Cedar Mesa by Peter Francis Tassoni, 2001, University of Utah Press, ), we bump along the rutted clay road and then walk into Butler Wash looking for the Wolf Man panel.
     A gorgeous, yet bullet hole riddled, panel inscribed into the desert varnish by old timers from yore. It has apparently become much more popular than when I last visited, as told by the cairns and the well-pounded trail to the panel. Articulated toes and fingers highlight the Wolf Man gracing the panel.
     Continuing along the dirt road, we see an arch in the edge of a long chocolate-colored outcrop paralleling the East side of the road. It appears to be an undocumented, per the WAD (World Arch Database), arch, and it is easily seen now because of the sun angle. A photo session ensues, with documentation to be forwarded to The Archman!, Bob Fagley. (insert link)
     Easing into Butler Wash amidst Cottonwoods in partial Fall bloom and luster, we find a good campsite replete with a fire pit and finely-ground poofy dust. Bucolic. A good place for camp, yet destined to be cooler because we are in the cold air slump at the bottom of the wash. We’ll take it. Temps have been above average, and we are in shorts until the time of local sunset.

Pano - Syncline from Procession Panel - left-Procession Panel; center-syncline and Butler Wash; right-edge of Comb Ridge (Image is very wide - scroll to view it (3873 x 500; 536kb) - Click the image for the full-size image)

Day 2 - climb the syncline (Click the image for a full-size view)	Double Stack ruin (Click the image for a full-size view)	Double Stack picto (Click the image for a full-size view)
Double Stack petro (Click the image for a full-size view)	Double Stack ruin - top stack (Click the image for a full-size view)	wall detail (Click the image for a full-size view)

     Day 2: A Double off the route: From our camp, partly selected because it is near the probable trailhead for Double Stack Ruin, we set out across the monocline that leads to Comb Ridge, a delightful angle of polished Navajo SandStone (SS) lilting from the wash to the sharp escarpment of the Comb.
     Our description to the ruin lacks specificity and we are off-route before long. Reorienting, we think we see an alcove that matches the description – and delight in finding that there is an arch in the top edge of this alcove. We dub it Double Stack Ruin Arch, in the hope that we will find the ruin. We continue to explore along the SS and soon see a canyon that more likely contains a ruin. We explore down what we now suspect is a loop up canyon, along the Comb, and back down another arm of this canyon, past water-filled potholes and a tank containing some cattails. At the junction of the canyon “Y,” we find Double Stack Ruin, and assorted pictos/petros too.
     Back at the truck, we continue along the poorly-maintained county road, looking for the launch off spot for the Procession Panel. After a false start, the way is clear and we climb the monocline nearly to the top of the comb and to the panel. Panorama city! Panorama of the Procession Panel. Panorama of part of the monocline and part of Butler Wash.
     One wonders how come a country so driven to try to eliminate all lands from wilderness classification refuses to maintain a fairly major county road? Later, I read in a SUWA posting that the counties are attempting some sort of 'extortion' because they have lost an appeal where they claimed any track or wisp of footprints should be classified as a 'road' and therefore the whole section is ineligible for wilderness classification. Whining, the county has apparently refused to maintain even undisputed routes, such as the Butler Wash Road. The blue smoke horde, ORVs, are harmful to the earth and its inhabitants, including people, and are yet another negative factor in climate change and over-dependence on foreign oil. ORVs support terrorism. Certainly, they should be treated like cigarette smoking - banned from all public places (lands) because they are hazardous to all, present and future. We return from the Procession Panel late enough that we do not wish to move from the TH because we will be far into the crepuscular, beyond local sunset. With thrill, we strap the sun shower to the top of the campermobile and enjoy a shower as the sun sets. Then, with an old metal garbage can lid serving as a fire pan, we enjoy a warmer night on this open bench, being just above the cold air slump of Butler Wash.

Day 3 - Monarch Cave (Click the image for a full-size view)	Monarch Cave (Click the image for a full-size view)	Monarch Cave (Click the image for a full-size view)
Day 3 Coldspring from kiva (Click the image for a full-size view)	Coldspring ruin (Click the image for a full-size view)	Coldspring from kiva (Click the image for a full-size view)
Coldspring picto (Click the image for a full-size view)	Coldspring petro (Click the image for a full-size view)	Coldspring Kiva (Click the image for a full-size view)

     Day 3: Ruin Rambler: Off in search of the next monocline adventure along Butler Wash, we start a search for Monarch Cave. Seeing cairns, an elaborate series of cairns, we believe we are on the route paralleling the deepening gulch to the North. Climbing higher, I continue to assume that our route will drop us down into the gulch, avoiding some of the brush whacking. Not so, it appears to be a false route placed by lost and anxious Californians searching for Monarch Cave. The assumed anxiety caused the plethora of cairns. We double back and slip into the gulch – nearly back to the truck.
     Monarch Cave – a grand place with some interesting pictos/petros. The main structures are perched on the edge of a pour-off, in dominion over a deep, dank plunge pool a rope pitch or more below. The 1892 exploration vandals (Illustrated American Exploring Expedition of 1892), and some current ones have left their dishonorable scribbling.
     Cold Spring Cave is also scribed by the 1892 vandals and sits silently in a polished wash not far from Butler Wash. This pueblo area, like Monarch, has its own water source – hence the modern name. It’s a peaceful setting and we relish in this, then consider going up the other arm of the gulch to the tip of the Comb, and instead return to the truck to continue our ruin ramble.
     Fish Mouth Cave lords over the wash, big bass mouth gaping, frozen edges drooping in SS curves. The route in is littered with pieces of wall and other bits from prior habitation. This, I discover later, is really the best part of the exploration. The slickrock bowl below the cave mouth is interesting, and the scramble up into the mouth a bit arduous. In the cave, disappointment. The place has been looted by a series of pot hunters. What remains are bits of thatched roofs (floors?) and lots of recent graffiti by idiots of all ages and persuasions. Banners of Julio loves Carnita, Bowser loves Bonnie, and republicans for screaming "No!" to everything good deface the cave.
     It’s windy and getting on toward sunset when we get back to the truck. So, we go directly across the Wash road and find a camp slightly protected by the SS walls. Again, a sun-warmed shower delights. The wind subsides somewhat.

Day 3 - from Fish Mouth Cave (Click the image for a full-size view)

     Day 4: Rain rider: We awake in the early morning to the preliminary patter of rain. I jump out and gather the drying towels and other things left out during the night. Then, it starts raining with purpose. Kathleen becomes concerned about the road – thinking: clay surface + water = disaster. I reluctantly agree and we speedily pack up and get rolling. Clumps of richly red mud spray if we go too fast, huge clumps clunk off the undercarriage and plop into car parts, permanently gluing themselves in situ. Yet mostly the Northern section of the Wash Rd. has more sand stretches than the South section.
     We see the highway, and it takes another wandering two miles of clay to get there. Of course, the rain has quit by now, as we visit the Butler Wash ruin turn-out and sit behind the truck eating cereal ignored during our early escape. Then, we drive home, Kathleen having lost her quest for adventure. Along the way, I photograph a scenic toilet in Comb Wash. (link to scenic toilets) We had anticipated an exploration of Butler Wash, followed by a return leg of exploration along Comb Wash, something that awaits the next questival.

Day 1- Butler Wash Road Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Butler Wash Road Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Butler Wash Road Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)
Butler Wash Road Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 2 - Double Stack Ruin Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Double Stack Ruin Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)
Double Stack Ruin Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Double Stack Ruin Arch (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 4 - Butler Wash Ruin NB (Click the image for a full-size view)

     Butler Wash Road Arch:
    Cedar Mesa Area, Utah
     From Hwy 163 between Bluff and Mexican Hat, Utah, turn North onto San Juan Country Rd 262 at MP 40.5. This turn is about 5 miles West of Bluff. This is the Butler Wash Road.
     Drive this dirt road North approximately 2.2 miles. Look in the top of the chocolate bluff to the East for Butler Wash Road Arch, which can be seen from the road, just above a spur road off the main road.
     Coordinates for this arch are:
    UTM 12 S 0621072E; 4127745N; WGS 84

     Double Stack Arch
     Butler Wash Road
     Cedar Mesa Area, Utah
     From Hwy 163 between Bluff and Mexican Hat, Utah, turn North onto San Juan Country Rd 262 at MP 40.5. This turn is about 5 miles West of Bluff. This is the Butler Wash Road.
     Drive this dirt road North approximately 3.8 miles. At this mileage, turn West onto a dirt track and drive to the edge of Butler Wash. Park near the Wash, at approximately UTM 12 S 0621395E; 4130614N; WGS 84.
     You are about 17.2 miles South of Hwy 95 (turn South onto Butler Wash at MP 112.3).
     Look West for the alcove in the slanted white Navajo SandStone. Double Stack Arch is in the rim of this alcove. It's about a 20 minute hike to the arch. This arch is named for nearby Double Stack Ruin.
     Coordinates for this arch are:
    UTM 12 S 0620379E; 4130601N; WGS 84 at about 4860'

     Butler Wash Ruin NB
     Cedar Mesa area - Utah
     Drive south from Moab on Rt. 191 to Blanding. Four miles south of Blanding, turn west onto the Bi-Centennial Highway (Rt. 95). About 10 miles west of the turnoff, a sign indicates "Butler Wash Ruins". The ruins are visible from an overlook at the end of a half mile hike from the parking area. One has to walk up-canyon along the fenced overlook beyond the end of the fencing to view the natural bridge.