Horsecollar Ruin Overlook Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Views

This short, mostly level trail is lined with rocks to make it easy to follow. From the parking area, head west over the mesa top to the edge of White Canyon, where there is a short descent at the very end near the edge. This viewing area is fenced off to prevent falls. From this perspective you can see the remains of an ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling in a large alcove near the bottom of the canyon. The structures are tucked into a circular depression. Two granaries with uniquely shaped doors give this ruin its name. No one seems to know why the doors were shaped this way, but there is evidence of many fires being built in this structure.

To the left of the granaries is a square kiva, the community’s ceremonial and meeting room. It is very rare for structures to still have intact roofs. Binoculars or a zoom lens will aid viewing. Ancestral Puebloans, or Anasazi, inhabited this area of Utah for over 1,000 years, and their abrupt departure from the area remains a mystery.

Juniper and other scrubby desert plant life lines the way.