At Bears Ears in Utah, heated politics and precious ruins
and not for the last time, that archaeology and anthropology are close cousins. We reached a T-junction. One way led north toward the town of Blanding, population about 3,600, whose welcome sign proclaims that it was “Established 1905.” That hearkens to its incorporation by a late-arriving tribe of pioneers of European origin. Many of their descendants here in San Juan County are among the most tenacious opponents of the national monument.
“You just don’t take something from somebody,” Phil Lyman, a San Juan County commissioner, told a New York Times reporter in May. He equated the monument designation to grand theft. “From a principle standpoint, this needs to go away,” he said. “I agree with President Trump: This never should have happened.”
If you plan a vacation that takes in the landmarks of contemporary local cultures, then, you can visit Recapture Canyon, near Blanding. It has many important cliff-dweller sites, but it is also a local all-terrain-vehicle playground. Vandalism and pothunter looting were so common here that in 2014 the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency responsible for managing most of these lands, closed an illegal track that ATV enthusiasts had bulled into the canyon. Hikers and horse riders were still permitted.
It was a serene enough place during our visit. But in 2014 a protest pageant of dozens of ATVS roared into Recapture Canyon, some driven by out-oftowners bearing assault rifles. (More than 2,000 miles of trails on public lands were already open to ATV riders.)
One of the principal organizers was Lyman, the county commissioner. He spent 10 days in jail as a result. Lyman still holds office and was one of the anti-monument dignitaries who met several times with Zinke. The Native American representatives had about an hour with Zinke at the end of his four-day listening tour, and the nonprofit Friends of Cedar Mesa representative got 35 minutes. Parts of Recapture Canyon have recently been reopened to ATVS.
Back at that road junction, though, if you turn south instead, you reach the outskirts of a hamlet with different affiliations: Bluff, population maybe 300. Its city limits are marked: “Established 650 A.D.” That can easily be read now as a declaration of support for the new, adjacent monument.
Bluff is more of a home base for environmentalists, archaeologists and tour companies that specialize in gentler explorations. They include treks and road trips to ruins, rock art and spectacular geology such as the Natural Bridges and Valley of the Gods areas, as well as guided raft trips down the San Juan River with stops at rock art sites that are exceptional, even here.
With Jan Noirot, a guide for one of those outfits, Four Corners Adventures, we explored watercourses, miles across or sometimes shoulder tight, that have riven the broad mesas. Exquisite,
eerie ruins are tucked within dark rock alcoves or nearly hidden by piñon-and-juniper forests out on the mesas and canyon rims: Monarch, Target, Ballroom, House on Fire and the stunning Cave Towers, for example.
Archaeologist Benjamin Bellorado, a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, has conducted research in this area for 20 years. He led me down the side of a trailless canyon on one bright morning, as we stayed on the slick-rock and off the fragile biological crust that secures soils against erosion. We also tried not to create any trace of a trail that would invite others.
After about an hour of bushwhacking, we reached a ruin of living rooms and grain storage that has been the focus of some of his research. It was inhabited for 50 years or so by about 20 people, perhaps an extended family. There is also a small kiva — a circular, semi-subterranean spiritual and community center — whose carefully laid roof timbers are still intact.
Bellorado’s research has dated this kiva with remarkable precision. It was constructed in A.D. 1215 and rebuilt in 1229. He showed me mural depictions of a bird, a plant, a herd of sheep, all incised in the plaster walls. Then, in a layer laid on a few years later, evidence of a cultural shift that naturalists. 250 Main St.; recapturelodge.com.
Desert Rose Inn & Cabins
in Bluff offers views of spectacular cliffs. 701 Main St.; desertroseinn. com.
Where to eat Comb Ridge Bistro
In Bluff, offers a limited menu of pleasing, locally sourced and otherwise eco-sensitive dishes: meatloaf, blue corn pancakes, pulled pork sandwiches, stylish hamburgers. Also open for breakfast and lunch. Serves alcohol. 680 Main St.; combridgebistro.com.
In sometimes political Blanding, a dry town where alcohol is not served, the which is also a sit-down restaurant, offers blend-your-own milkshake combinations. I contrived a raspberry-marshmallow malt that was hoisted through my car window in a 9-inch vessel. It accompanied an equally girthy cheeseburger with green chile. You’re put on notice, in large typography, on the Patio’s front window: “We are a food establishment reminiscent of a bygone era where the quality of the food meant more to America than how fast it could be served.” 95 N. Grayson Parkway; 435-6782177.
Patio Drive In,
could have been the result of in-migrations: Bolder design elements appear, abstracted from decorated sandals, a cotton belt and a blanket. These insignia may have served to mark social status and the spread of new religious ideologies, Bellorado said.
“This is all so untouched, in terms of research,” he told me. “In southeast Utah, we’ve barely scratched the surface.” But this remote, tiny, hard-to-find site has been touched meaningfully in other ways. He pointed out a wall that had likely been shoved over. Pottery shards have been moved around, others perhaps pilfered, and the floor shoveled up by pothunters. “This is what looting looks like,” he said. “This has changed a lot in the last few years. People really tear things up, even here.”
Many legal scholars question whether Trump has the power to rescind monument designations or make substantial changes to their boundaries. Opponents have promised litigation to stop him if he tries. Zinke has already said he will recommend a drastic downsizing of Bears Ears. His deadline for revealing more details on that, and on the potential fates of the rest of 17,700 square miles of terrestrial national monuments, and 340,400 square miles of marine national monuments, is Aug. 24.