Lower Yellow Jacket Canyon at Ismay

The Yellow Jacket Canyon makes a junction with McElmo Canyon 26 miles west of Cortez along County Road G near the border of Colorado and Utah. Yellow Jacket Canyon Road is a rough trail that turns north at the old Ismay Trading Post along the west flank of Cannonball Mesa. This area is the southwest corner of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

There is an unpublicized ruins site with petroglyphs only 0.2 miles along the rough road. About 0.1 mile past the ruins site there is a side road that leads left  toward the Yellow Jacket Creek.

The side road cuts through the thick Willow, Cottonwood and Tamarisk riparian habitat along the creek to an easy hiker crossing point. In late August there was about 1 foot depth of water and a fairly swift flow. There was a surprising amount of water here considering how dry the surrounding landscape is and that 2012 has been a relatively dry year. I carried river sandals to make this crossing.

After the crossing, there are cow trails to follow toward the mesa area that is about 1 mile to the northwest. This area is very vegetation free and walking is easy. 

With binoculars, a small ruins site is visible on a ledge one layer of cliffs below the mesa top. I had sighted this ruin on a previous hike from the east side of Yellow Jacket Creek.

I didn’t see an easy way to get on the ledge, but the ruins can be viewed from several angles. From the left side, there is a large front wall that is visible from a long distance and a smaller wall section perched above it.

From the right side, there is another wall section with a small doorway. I didn't see any other structures associated with this ruin.

On the right side, it looks like hand and toe holds lead to the mesa top. I didn’t try to climb up there but there must have been a mesa top route on top to get to this structure.

Looking back at lower Yellow Jacket Canyon, the ruins site close to Ismay is visible as is the Cannonball Mesa top. Slightly to the north, there is a ruins site that overlooks the junction of Hovenweep and Yellow Jacket Canyon that is not visible from here. It took me 1:00 hour to arrive at the ruins site starting from close to the creek crossing. The slow part is climbing up the slope.

The return hike took 1:15 as I walked north a little more are scanned up the canyons with binoculars. My total time was 2:30 hours on an 85 F degree late August day. On a warm day I carried and drank 2 liters of water.

Hilltop Village Between Yellow Jacket and Woods Canyon

The mesa top area between Woods Canyon to the west and Yellowjacket Canyon to the south has a variety of hidden Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites along the canyon rims and hilltops. From the Carbon Dioxide Gas Plant at the corner of County Road U and County Road 14, I traveled 1.4 miles south on Road 14 and stopped at a point where the road made a sharp bend to the west.

This road might also be labeled BLM Road 4528. This area is west of the community of Yellow Jacket along Highway 491 in the Canyons of the Ancients in southwest Colorado.

I hiked around the area on a warm early July day looking at the hilltops areas on both sides of the road. On the hilltop northwest of where I started there is a medium sized village completely hidden and overgrown with sagebrush and the Pinon Juniper forest.

On the east side of the site there is a large circular rubble pile in a volcano shape, perhaps a collapsed tower.

The next structure to the west seemed to be a more rectangular mound with less rubble visible. This site has good views from the hilltop overlooking the area to the south.

Further to the west is another circular ruin that I thought was more of a kiva, but none of these rubble piles had any visible walls that have held together.

From this village it is a short walk northwest to the nearest canyon rim where a boulder based ruins site is visible across and down the canyon. I think this site is also visible with binoculars from the main road about 0.5 miles further south. (The post for this boulders site is labeled Yellow Jacket Canyon Boulders.) 

I spent 1:30 hours on this hike even though the site I found was 5 minutes of walking from where I started. I was an 84 F degree early July day and I wasn't bothered by the biting gnats that are often a nuisance during June.

Boulder Ruins between Woods and Yellow Jacket Canyons

The relatively small area between Woods Canyon and Yellow Jacket Canyon has Ancestral Pueblo ruin sites in the form of square and round towers, alcoves, mesa top rubble piles and the boulder based structures that seem to be common in the Canyons of the Ancients of southwest Colorado.

When hiking in the Canyons of the Ancients, it is helpful to scan the cliffs and hilltops with binoculars as these hidden sites will be sometimes visible from the distance. I started this hike 2.2 miles south of the carbon dioxide gas plant that is located at the junction of County Roads U and 14, west of the community of Yellow Jacket northwest of Cortez, CO.

At this spot there are good views south over the wide and deep Yellowjacket Canyon. Looking the other way, to the northwest, there is a large boulder with rubble on top about 1 mile away. I had noticed this boulder from several angles on other hikes in this area.

There are two small drainages to cross to get to this site. After arriving at a point where there is a good overall view, I saw that there are actually three boulders with rubble ruins on top. The large south facing site overlooks the junction of the two small drainages and there are some rocky cliff outcrops at the junction.

Walking up canyon a short distance, there is an easy crossing and I visited the site from east to west. The first boulder site is the smallest and isn’t the one that is visible from a distance. There are several other boulders without rubble piles that can be climbed for different views.

Between the first and second boulder ruins sites, there are some wall sections to find against the cliff walls. There is an unusual small structure with good quality bricks a short distance in front of the cliffs. One could guess this is some sort of storage but it is hard to tell.

The second boulder has a more substantial rubble pile on top and there is an adjacent boulder to climb on to get a good view. The Canyons of the Ancients area has many more of these boulder based structures that seem to be present at Mesa Verde and the Cedar Mesa area in Utah. I’ve wondered if the former presence of wolves in this area has anything to do with this. I’ve never seen any mention of wolves in the interpretive material that is widely available for this area.

Behind the third boulder there is a petroglyph of concentric circles. There are many vertical rock surfaces at this site, but this is the only rock art that I saw.

The third boulder has the most rubble of the three. This is the one that is visible from the distance.

Off to the side of the third boulder there is a retaining wall that is filled in with soil and provides a level and smooth area. This wall is positioned like a check dam and would have caught runoff water from the cliffs above. Most of the pottery shards that I saw in this area are in the drainage below this retaining wall.

I found a place to climb to the top of the cliffs where there is a good view of the rubble on top of the boulder and the overall site. Once on top, I decided to loop back toward my starting point, walking east along the cliffs. The road and the power lines along the main road are easily visible from the mesa top. I didn’t see any structures on top of the cliffs. It took me about 0:45 minutes to arrive at this site and I lingered here for 0:45 minutes.

The return hike taking the different route took 1:15 hours. On the way, up canyon from the three boulder based ruins, I found another boulder based site. I didn’t see any others structures associated with this site. My total hike took 2:45 hours for about 4 miles on a 52 F degree late November day.

Round Tower between Woods and Yellow Jacket Canyons

Yellow Jacket Canyon is one of the largest of the rugged Canyons of the Ancients in southwest Colorado. There is a hiking access on the north rim along the extension of County Road 14, south of County Road U. This area is west of the community of Yellow Jacket, northwest of Cortez, CO along highway 491.

From the trailhead area and Canyons of the Ancients sign in front of the carbon dioxide gas plant at Roads 14 and U, I continued driving south for 2.5 miles to a point where there are views along the north rim of Yellowjacket Canyon. The well maintained gravel road continues for about one mile to several carbon dioxide gas wells.

 I started hiking west along the canyon rim, parallel to the road and then turned north at the small gas facility building, and hiked past it and along the ridge behind it. After about 0:30 minutes of slow hiking, a large round tower is visible with binoculars below, as are the ridge top square towers across the drainage.

This large diameter tower seems to have an odd location. It sits on a rim above a drainage, but is at a relatively low location in the surrounding terrain. It has a clear line of sight to the pair of square towers that are on the ridge to the north. These square towers are more easily hiked to from the road to the west that is along the east rim of Woods Canyon.

I didn’t notice any other structures in the vicinity of this tower. It doesn’t seem to be part of a village or have a kiva connected to it.

Some of the rubble has spilled onto a level area below the tower. From the tower I continued downhill toward the drainage toward some cliffs that are below the square towers. This round tower is visible with binoculars from the Woods Canyon East Rim road if you stand in the right spot on the cliffs above the alcove ruins site. It is also visible from the square towers on the ridge.

There some alcoves in the cliffs below the square towers. I noticed a small wall fragment in one of the alcoves but didn’t try to get closer than viewing across the canyon.

From the cliff view I turned back south toward the gravel road and had some distant views of the round tower.

On the south side of this hill, there is a small ruins site on the rim and a large boulder overlooking the side canyon.

On the other side of this side canyon is the end of the gravel road and the beginning of a rougher trail that extends out to a rocky point.

I intersected the main gravel road about 0.7 miles from where I started. On this hilltop area close to the Yellowjacket Canyon rim, there is a rubble pile ruins site that I have visited before on the hike I called “Yellowjacket Canyon Close to Woods Canyon”.

There are at least three rubble pile sites along the Yellowjacket Canyon rim in this area. My total hike looping around the round tower took 3:00 hours on a 52 F degree late November day.

                                       

Square Towers between Woods and Yellow Jacket Canyons

On the east side of the Woods Canyon East Rim Road there is an alcove Ancestral Pueblo ruins site below the rim. From the cliffs above the alcoves, I thought I could see some wall structures hidden by the forest on a ridge in the area between Wood Canyon and Yellowjacket Canyon about 1 mile away.

The Woods Canyon East Rim Road is a west turn 0.2 miles past the carbon dioxide gas plant that is at the junction of Roads U and 14, west of the community of Yellow Jacket in southwest Colorado. I started hiking 1.1 miles down this road at a carbon dioxide well site.

Along the road here, to the west are good views of the Woods Canyon Pueblo site. From this starting point, the hiking is generally south along canyon rims with a crossing of one small drainage. There isn’t a trail to follow here. From previous observation from the cliffs above the alcoves, I had a good bearing on the hill I was heading for and used a compass to stay on course in the forest when there wasn’t good visibility.

The site sits on a narrow ridge with good views north and south, but isn’t visible from the east approach until you are 10 feet from it. It appears to be two side by side square towers with some south facing rooms below the towers.

This site has a good line of site view to the alcove sites. It is also visible with binoculars from the road that runs along the north and west rim of Yellowjacket Canyon.

There is more standing wall here than is usually visible at these remote sites. The bricks seem to be cut very square and fitted together well.

This doesn’t appear to be a village where many people could live. I didn’t see any kivas or other structures besides the towers and the rooms below. It is positioned with great visibility. It is in the middle between sites along Woods Canyon and others closer to Yellowjacket Canyon.

There is a little more room on the ridge top to continue west to views toward Yellowjacket Canyon and then view the ruins site from a different angle.

It took me 1:00 hour to arrive at this site and I lingered in the area for 1:10 hours. My return hike took 1:20 hours for a total hike of 3:30 hours. I carried and drank 2 liters of water on a 56 F degree late November day. There might be some minor sites to keep an eye out for in the small canyon drainage that is along the way.

                                       

Cannonball Cliffs to Yellow Jacket Creek

The north cliffs of Cannonball Mesa overlook the lower section of Yellowjacket Canyon in the southwest part of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado. The west end of Cannonball Mesa is 26 miles west of Cortez, CO on County Road G to the rough Yellowjacket Canyon Road at Ismay Trading Post.

The unmarked cow trail that provides an easy route to the top of Cannonball is 1.4 miles north along the rough road. At the top I turned left or north, and continued along the rim, past a narrow northwest point to an overlook of a boulder based Ancestral Pueblo ruins site. Slightly to the east, there is a notch in the cliffs that allows a descent down the slope.

I had spotted this site on a previous hike along the Cannonball Mesa Cliffs. The notch has several easy to view petroglyphs near the rim. It took me 0:45 minutes to arrive at the notch.
 

The hike down the slope is somewhat slippery but feasible. The best routes are often easier to see looking up the slope rather than down. At the ruins site, there are some minor wall sections still in place around the edges on top and much rubble has tumbled down on the south side.

 I didn’t see any other structures around the boulder. From this site it is an easy walk down toward the canyon bottom and the flowing creek and there are many other large boulders in the vicinity.

One of the large boulders about 100 yards to the west has a clearly visible horse image sitting above a faint but larger horse. This panel faces the canyon bottom area.

At the canyon bottom there is a continuation of the Yellowjacket Canyon road, but direct access is blocked by private property. This section of the canyon bottom is part of the Canyons of the Ancients for about 1 mile. Many other segments of Yellowjacket Canyon bottom are private property.

I followed the old road, walking slowly and scanning the opposite side with binoculars. In about 20 minutes of direct walking, the road leads to the creek and dead ends. I didn’t spot any ruins sites in the creek area, but they are often hard to see from a distance. During my hike, there was an old backhoe parked at the end of the road.


I was 3:10 hours into my hike when I arrived back at the ruins site on my return hike. I saw a few alcoves high to the west and wanted to see if there was another route to this area. When I climbed to a ridge below the alcoves I had a major surprise. (Go to the next post for the surprise.) Otherwise, my total hike took 4:10 hours on a 60 F degree partly cloudy and windy mid March day. I carried and drank 2 liters of water for about 5 miles of hiking.

Hovenweep and Yellowjacket Junction

The northwest corner of Cannonball Mesa overlooks the junction of Yellowjacket and Hovenweep Canyons in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, near Ismay Trading Post in southwest Colorado.

After visiting a small ruins site along the north Cannonball Cliffs rim hiking route I looked for an alternate route back to the mesa top.

I was so stunned when I came over a small ridge that I gasped aloud. Besides being surprised by this ruins, this site has an impressive location that sits with a perfect view down Yellowjacket Canyon and up Hovenweep Canyon.

 There are many boulder based ruins sites in the Canyons of the Ancients, but this one seems to be perched on a perfect cube and has several clearly visible rooms.

I saw one large petroglyph image on the boulder foundation and a small spiral. I could see the Yellowjacket Canyon road and my parked car from this site. It is visible with binoculars from down below, but is hidden when hiking along the rim. I didn’t find an easier return route than the way I came.

Yellowjacket Canyon near Woods Canyon

Yellowjacket Canyon is one of the largest of the rugged Canyons of the Ancients in southwest Colorado. There is an access to the north rim along the extension of County Road 14, south of County Road U. This area is west of the community of Yellowjacket, northwest of Cortez, CO along highway 491.

From the trailhead area near the Carbon Dioxide Gas Plant  into Woods Canyon at Roads 14 and U, I continued driving south for 2.3 miles to a point where there are views along the north rim of Yellowjacket Canyon. The well maintained gravel road continues for about one mile to several carbon dioxide gas wells. I started hiking west along the canyon rim, parallel to the road.


 

Yellowjacket Canyon is oriented east and west in this area and is very deep and wide with a flat canyon bottom. There is a meandering creek along the floor. In some areas the Yellowjacket Canyon floor is still private property with farming operations. I was hiking slowly, stopping frequently to scan with binoculars for Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites.
 

After about 1:00 hour, but only about 0.6 miles I came across a rubble pile site that was about 50 feet back from the rim. Many of these sites sit on the rim and spill over the edge, but this one was more of a mesa top site. I didn’t spot any ruins sites below the rim or near the canyon floor.

This site looked like it had at least two large rubble pile structures and a large circular depression and some perimeter walls. Not much has held together above ground, but it looks like a fairly large site.

                          

I continued west for about another 0.5 miles to a view point. I turned around at the view point, but there is about another mile of mesa top out to a rocky cap that overlooks the junction of Yellowjacket Canyon and the unnamed side canyon to the north. There is a rough trail  that continues along the mesa top.

On the return hike, I followed the rough trail back east to where it connects with the end of the maintained gravel road. Before that junction I found another mesa top site, somewhat smaller than the previous one. There were at least two rubble piles at this site, both overgrown with sagebrush and trees. My return hike only took about 0:30 minutes out of total hike of 2:30 hours for about 2 miles. I hiked on a mild 46 F degree early December day.

 Two days later I returned to the same area and continued on the rough  trail to the rocky cap overlooking the point where Yellowjacket Canyon makes a bend to the southwest. I started at the end of the well maintained gravel road, and re-hiked the first 0.5 miles of ATV trail, passing the second ruins site again. At the end of the point, about 1.5 miles of hiking, a little past the rocky outcrop, there are good views down Yellowjacket Canyon.

I saw one small ruins site along the south facing canyon rim a short distance before the rocky outcrop. The rocky outcrop itself appeared to have a small shelter ruin with a small wall fragment. I spent 2:20 hours on this segment of hiking of about 3 miles. (There are several other ruins sites in this area. Use the Yellow Jacket Canyon labels.)