After our visit to the Citadel, we returned to UT 261 and headed north to Snow Flat Road to hike to Moon House. From the pavement it took us around 45 minutes to drive to the trailhead (we ended up stopping a little bit short - the last mile is narrow and rough). In the end, the drive was longer than the hike. The hike is only 3 miles RT, but it is steep. We descended into McCloyd Canyon and there was one spot with an overhang that took some care. As we curved around the slickrock amphitheater, the ruins came into view across the canyon, tucked into a ledge. We descended the rest of the way to the bottom of the canyon, crossed over, and scrambled up the other side - following the cairns that pointed the easiest route up to the higher ledge with the cliff dwellings.

Wow! Moon House was amazing! There was an ammo can by the main site with information about the ruins. The site consists of 49 rooms in three cliff dwellings along 0.25 miles of the rock ledge. It is estimated the dwellings were built around A.D 1264. The highlight was a long wall you could enter through a small doorway (taking care to not pull at the sides getting in). Behind this wall is a hallway with additional rooms (these rooms can not be entered, but you can look in them). Moon House gets its name from one of these rooms with a painted white band with pictographs of the moon phases.

We enjoyed our time exploring Moon House and found these ruins exceptional. Definitely a recommended destination!

Notes:

Hiking & Walking has a nice description about hiking to Moon House and info about the ruins.

A visit to Moon House requires a day use permit from the BLM, which Steve obtained without issue the week prior to our trip.

Please observe all posted guidelines regarding visitation to these beautiful ruins (and any others). And watch for cryptobiotic soil to avoid stepping on it. Don’t bust the crust!