Grand Gulch is the grandest cañon on the Cedar Mesa, the longest, and most interesting. Our trip details the upper half, which has the most Puebloan ruins, and the most water. It was truly a journey of discovery, even though the archeological sites have been visited by many before. The BLM estimates 25,000 hikers visit the Gulch annually.....we were not the first! Grand Gulch is an "outdoor museum", open to in-situ exploration and discovery. Bottom line though, is don't disturb or take the artifacts that you find.

The Gulch, and the side canyons such as Bullet, Todie, Kane, Coyote, and Sheik's contain artifacts from the Basketmaker period, dating back to 1500 B.C. You'll find many stone masonary structures, from granaries to kivas. The Gulch has a diversity of rock art panels consisting of petroglyphs (pecked into the rock) and pictographs (painted on with pigments). The meaning of the art panels will intrigue you, and your imagination will entice your sense of discovery.

The Basketmaker culture evolved into the Puebloan culture in about 750 A.D. By 1200 A.D., the Puebloans moved into neighboring New Mexico and Arizona, likely due to drought, depletion of local resources, and pressure from nomadic invaders from the north. At both the east and west entrance to Bullet Canyon, you will observe rim top “lookout towers". I climbed the slickrock to the westerly "lookout tower", at the Junction Springs, and can verify that the view up the Gulch is terrific.

Navigation in The Gulch and side canyons can be tricky at times. The BLM manages The Gulch as a primitive area, so there are no signs, and you'll need to "discover" which trails are social and which is the main trail. We missed the trail to Coyote Canyon. Maps do not show the main trail, and GPSrs are unreliable in the canyon, due to multipath errors. There is no cellphone coverage in The Gulch. The BLM limits the daily overnight visitors to 82 total for all The Gulch trail-heads combined. So when you do encounter another hiker, check in with the hiker on what water conditions are like, campsites, and trail conditions. We did not encounter much precipitation, but I imagine that rain will make the trails very challenging. Be prepared for an extended stay.

For further reading, the best book I found was "In Search of the Old Ones", by David Roberts ©1996. He discusses the Anasazi culture of the Southwest, including Grand Gulch, and other canyons such as Canyon de Chelly, and Chaco Canyon. Another book that focuses on the archeologists that have looted, collected, and explored The Gulch is "Cowboys & Cave Dwellers" by Fred Blackburn and Ray Williamson ©1997. This book does not discuss the culture as much, but rather relates the experiences of the many archeological expeditions over the years.