Comb Ridge

Comb Ridge is a 50-mile monocline — a long, knife-edged wall of tilted sandstone — that runs north from the Utah state line like a geological fence across the plateau. Its west face drops nearly 300 metres to the Comb Wash; the east side slopes gently away. The ridge is seamed with canyons, and those canyons hold an astonishing density of Ancestral Puebloan sites.

The BLM road along the wash at the base of the ridge gives access to several hiking trails leading into slot canyons with cliff dwellings visible from below. Arch Canyon and Mule Canyon are both worth exploring. The ridge also marks the approximate boundary of the Navajo Nation, which stretches south and east from here.

things to do sight
A story
Comb Ridge was the final obstacle faced by the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers who founded Bluff in 1880. Having already lowered their wagons down the near-vertical Hole-in-the-Rock slot canyon, they confronted this 50-mile monocline — and simply cut a road down its face. San Juan Hill, as they called it, took weeks to chisel. The ruts from their wagon wheels are still visible in the sandstone.