Finding the Anasazi ruins within Butler Wash can be challenging. Located well outside Blanding Utah, there are no signs even where to park, yet alone where to go along the natural canyon wash. We only found the ancient ruins by taking several side routes which appeared to have prior footprints leading off in that direction, and also basing our route on a rough description from an old guidebook.

Finding it made the visit all the better. Hardly anyone around. The quiet allowed us to really think of what life in that harsh environment may have been like for the Anasazi who lived there for many generations, surviving from the wash’s year-round trickle of water, and planting and hunting with what the desert environment could provide.

The Anasazi ruins are relatively intact on one side of the canyon, and the other side has a great example of an area where food was ground and prepared. Petroglyphs are still visible around the rock walls. The location is well protected from weather and also defensible in height from enemies, perched high above where there were (long gone) retractable wooden ladders. It’s a great, raw, un-packaged history lesson out in a remote region of Utah.

Butler Wash Anasazi ruins Blanding Utah

Approaching the standing upper walls of the Anasazi community



Butler Wash Anasazi ruins petroglyphs Blanding Utah

Anasazi petroglyphs still visible in the sandstone



Butler Wash Anasazi ruins sandstone Blanding Utah

Looking across from one upper cave to the homes on the other side’s canyon walls