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Show Hfcztec Butte Is a Rewarding Experience ' By FRAN BARNES Indian ruins are not un-Vmmon un-Vmmon in the canyonlands j southeastern Utah. Plen- :ul game made much of ?.e area a "happy hunting le-ound," and the abundance abund-ance of caves, cliffs and ;e;iolated mesas provid end-,la':ss end-,la':ss opportunities for the instruction of dwellings, granaries and forts that i'ould easily be defended gainst the hunting or aiding parties of more no. 3 ladic, less industrious naidians. n ,aj, Because of this need for extensibility, most of the trains of the earlier Indian iltures are not only dif-ajjcult dif-ajjcult to get into, but are OH so quite a bit of trouble wj;. reach in the first place. ;ti(lthough southeastern Ut-'i Ut-'i has many good paved id secondary roads, the ea served by these roads 1 so vast that most of the idian ruins there can be fached only by jeep trails v on foot. S Reached by Car ' One exception to this is cated in the northern, i;land In The Sky section V Canyonlands National lark, not far from Moab. fere, on and near Aztec lutte, are some small but lute interesting ruins that .Jtn be reached by ordinary issenger car, plus a short ikes. A day's trip to Aztec Igluttte can be rewarding in any ways. The route lere is highly scenic, the Jllio flic nvv-.. J espects, and there is still C'iore outstanding scenery d the vicinity of the ruins. t To reach Aztec Butte, rn west off of U.S. 165 it'sbout ten miles north of lnt'loab, onto the paved road 3 Dead Horse Point State L' . rj S-vrr4 Three Moab girls examine the rock-walled structure on the top of Aztec Butte. There were no indications Park and Canyonlands National Na-tional Park. This road first enters the wide portals oi Seven Mile Canyon, then in about two miles climbs up and onto tableland broken by rounded domes of Nava. Ki.H ' ' " "1 :uijl j 'I ill ' n--" ' v litC N toi , ' 1 'ayV - . V i r N. " v- ' s r 3 'r ' " -4' r ' n,u F lgH- N ' , - k at h . . ... - ' Standing on the flank of Aztec Butte, a hiker points ed out a small granary in a cave under the southeastern efrl rim. The snowcapped LaSals loom in the distance. m There was no access to the rim from this side. jo sandstone and bounded on the north by spectacular spectacu-lar red clif's of Carmel and Entrada sandstone, the same formations that occur in Arches National Monument. Monu-ment. Several miles farther on. the paved road curves sharply left and continues on to Dead Horse Point. . From here, the route to Canyonlands National Park and Aztec Butte continues straight ahead as a well-graded well-graded dirt road. After a few more .miles, the entrance en-trance to the Park is mark, ed by a sign and a small brown trailer that serves as a ranger station and visitor vi-sitor information center. Shortly beyond the entrance entran-ce the road crosses "The Neck," where cliffs drop abruptly away from each side of the road, and the plateau that lies beyond is known as "Island In The Sky." A viewpoint at The N&ck overlooks a spectacular spectacu-lar span of colorful canyonlands can-yonlands dominated by the LaSal mountains to the east. The tortuous switchbacks switch-backs of Shafer Trail can be seen directly below. Outstanding Views A bit less than five miles beyond The Neck, the road forks again. The left fork leads to magnifi- . cent Gran-el view Point, on the southernmost tip of the Island In The Sky, plus e! The mouth of the cave containing Indian dwellings is supported by 7j two natural pillars of stoac. These provide a vindow-like-forcground as to the use of the buildings. It could have been used as a dwelling, or for ceremonial purposes. several other outstanding viewpoints along the way. the right hand road soon forks again. The left fork leads to Green River Overlook Ov-erlook and the campground there. The right fork goes to Upheaval Dome. There are road signs at each of these intersections. Display Board About one mile along the Upheaval Dome road, there is a turnout near the base of a low mesa. The turnout turn-out has a small display ;board and pipestand for locating an Indian granary gran-ary just under the rim of the mesa. The much higher mesa beyond the one nearest near-est the road is Aztec Butte. In National Park At this point it is well to remember that you are within a National Park, and that everything there, whether natural or historical, histor-ical, and whether developed develop-ed and restored or not, is under Park Service protection. protec-tion. Park Service regulations regula-tions do not prohibit close examinations of archaeological archaeolo-gical sites, but they definitely defin-itely do prohibit any and all types of activity that might damage or destroy what is there. This includes includ-es climbing onto or into any structures regardless ' of their apparent state of collapse col-lapse or disrepair, and most specifically includes any type of digging. In short, when it comes to Indian ruins, Look but Do Not Touch! Study and appreciate what is there, but Leave It Exactly As You Find It! To1 quote a iPark Service admoniti,o'ii, "take nothing but pictures; and leave nothing- -but footprints." To see the ruins at Aztec Az-tec Butte,, first walk over to, but not into, the beautifully beauti-fully preserved graneries that are discussed 'in the-roadside the-roadside display. Then hike on toward Aztec Butte, itself. it-self. The butte consists of a large dome of Navajo sandstone capped by flat layers of sendimentary rock and toppd off by an acre or two of soil and vegata-tion. vegata-tion. Below the flat cap. rock, wind and water have carved out a series of shallow shal-low caves, some of them large enough for human use. Several of the caves below be-low the east and southeast rim were walled of by the. Indians for grain storage. A larger cave under the1 northwest rim was evidently evident-ly used as a dwelling place. This shallow cave is unique in that its wide mouth is supported by two natural columns of rock. The view from the cave is magnificent. magnifi-cent. On top of the mesa, near Continued on Page B3 for' - . ' , I st, ' I ' I ' ' 1 ' ii-4 y . . . . v - ;! Sta I t r , S V t iM f ' f. .- -: u .... ...,,.. r : , As-5 ' . , ;'.-.: '' ' " : art . -! -. - ' '' - 1 ' ' .... '-.." ' Tin .. '' .:..-. :" .... - '.. .'. .- 1 . . " " ' j ' f .... . . .- .-- 1 : - B ; -i' - ... 'r;i! K . , . - , V , c I t " . , J. ' ' ' VJ -. :;si.Jr - .. ' ' . . " ; ; Hi- t . . i w.. ... . ... v ... , 7V" - VM ' ' -,V ' ' ... . --v' " ' ' 11. - J ' ' : i , , Wl.trlfH ' - X-' . , ' I .. - . - , , . ; sic v . . '-"- : .L. ..' ..... ' ,w ,.....,,..,..,..:ml ! lunnnr'iaJtl.M.M a, . , V..,.,,., .r. , ,J.,-:v, r, .M--e. M. tm for a magnificent view across the, immense canyon system that surrounds sur-rounds Upheaval Dome y ztec Butte nlinued from Page f?l eastern edge, are the naiiis of a small rock- .lied building. There is indication of how the ' ilditig was used. Climb to Top The only way to rea.-h e granaries and dwell-s dwell-s below the mesa rim by first climbing up on. the top. This can be me at two places. At one ere are the remains of a ck defense wall. The oth-! oth-! shows evidence of a fair-jr fair-jr recent collapse of the ' m. Prior to the collapse, ' hen the Indians were us. ' g the mesa, this ap-j ap-j roach would have been fficult . or impossible, aving the only practical ' iproach walled and well : fended. But be warned, if you I f to climb down into any these caves for a clos-look clos-look at the rock struc-re. struc-re. They all overlook ieer and deadly drops, j Interesting Facts i A gearch of Park Service cords by Dave May, Park aturalist, revealed a few teresting facts about the stec Butte ruins. This & ineral vicinity seems to tve been about midway tween the principal cen-j cen-j rs of the Anasazi culture the south and west, ar.d . . the Fremont culture to the oast and north, with representatives repre-sentatives of both tribes appearing in the area over a long period of time. Archaeologists Ar-chaeologists believe the Aztec Az-tec Butte structures were built by Frem-ont Indians, and that they were aban- " cloned about 1303 A.D. Beyond this, little is known, yet it is possible Vto conjecture with some degree of certainty by studying stu-dying the area. There are tkvo or three, reliable springs not far from the butte, from which the Indians In-dians probably obtained their water. The meadows and canyons nearby provided pro-vided food. Deer, desert sheep, rabbits and other small animals are found in the area even today, and a surprisingly wide variety of edible plants, grains, nuts and fruit can be foraged for-aged from the vegetation that grows within a mile or two of the butte. Thus, the Indians who used Aztec Butte, either as a permanent or seasonal base, had the four basics essential to survival food, water, shelter from the elements and defense against o'ther men. No one seems to know how Aztec Butte got its name. The only thing that is certain is that no Az. tecs were ever within a thousand miles of the place. It is possible, of course, that early Spanish explorers, explor-ers, coming north out of Mexico and having knowledge know-ledge of Aztecs misnamed misnam-ed the butte. It is more probable, however, that some eastern greenhorn provided the inappropriate name. If anyone has any information in-formation on this subject, Dave May would appreciate having it. As of now, the Park Service Ser-vice has no plans for the restoration and devel spent sp-ent of the ruins on Aztec Butte. It is felt' that nearby near-by Mesa Verde National Park offers this type of display in abundance. While this is doubtless true, the Aztec Butte ruins are still novel enough to be of Interest, In-terest, and are among the few in this area that are easily accessible. After you nave visited these ruins, or at least looked them over from below be-low with binoculars, by all means drive on out to Upheaval Up-heaval Dome. Then if you haven't already, stop at Green River Overlook and the other viewpoints on the i Island In The Sky. And if you still have the time, stop by Dead Horse Point. The view there will provide a fitting climax for a wonderful day, as the late , afternoon sun fills the my. I riad red canyons with soft 3 purple shadows, and the ' Colorado River twists and winds far bielow, like a ribbon of stained mercury. |