Hikers explore Anasazi Ruins in Grand Gulch, Utah

Viewing Big Man Panel: Kathy Gish, Mike Wolters, Ray Peale, Elisabeth Wheeler and Frank Earnest; photo by Frank Earnest

Viewing Big Man Panel: Kathy Gish, Mike Wolters, Ray Peale, Elisabeth Wheeler and Frank Earnest; photo by Frank Earnest

Elisabeth Wheeler

Grand Gulch in southeast Utah is an outdoor museum of Anasazi Indian ruins 700 to 2000 years old. Entrenched in Cedar Mesa Sandstone, Grand Gulch drains most of the west side of Cedar Mesa, north of Monument Valley in Arizona. In these canyons are premier Anasazi ruins, pictographs and petroglyphs. Five SaddleBrooke hikers backpacked and hiked 50 miles of Grand Gulch and its side canyons to discover many ruins and art panels. One highlight was climbing up 200 feet from the river bed to view the Big Man Panel, probably made by the Anasazi people between 200 and 1300 A.D.