Alkali Ridge, Utah

Site Overview

Managed by the BLM, Alkali Ridge is a registered National Historic Landmark site, located between Blanding and Monticello, Utah, east of Hwy 191. Several mesa top sites can be found here dating from the BMIII to PII periods, as well as numerous cliff dwellings located just below the canyon rims.

Getting There

Access is via a well traveled gravel road suitable for lower clearance two-wheel drive cars (watch out for oil field trucks) and several 4-wheel drive stem roads accessible with high clearance four-wheel drive vehicles. The 4-wheel drive roads on Alkali Ridge also offer some decent mountain bike rides (another way to get from site to site). For the driver, you need only to park any place on the mesa, walk into the trees, or out into one of the clear areas, and start looking around.

What You Can See

Ceramic fragments, broken stone tool fragments, and toolstone flakes or "chips" are everywhere. Look for low mounds of “rubble” on the mesa top. These are the remains of collapsed structures. Several large, multi-unit villages were located on the mesa. Keep an eye out for the occasional slab cist. Also, very faint traces of an ancient road can still be seen, east of the Alkali Point Road. It likely connected the larger settlements to points beyond the mesa.

Tips for Your Visit

As always, have plenty of drinking water with you. There are no "facilities" on Alkali Ridge. Stay on established roads or trails. This will help keep your vehicle from becoming stuck, and will prevent excess erosion. When you are visiting a rubble mound, try to locate the midden quickly and then avoid walking in it. Alkali Ridge is a good place to carry a sketch pad and/or camera in your pack. You will have plenty of opportunity to draw or photograph numerous artifacts, ruins and canyon vistas.For more information on visiting archaeologically sensitive areas, see our visitor tips page.