Dave Webb, October 18, 2025
Right now is the perfect time to hike and explore in Utah’s southern deserts. We wandered into canyons in the Blanding area over the weekend and had a great time. Daytime temperatures were warm but not hot. Nights were chilly by manageable. It was a perfect family trip.
My photos are from 5 Kivas Ruin. It is relatively well-known and easy to access. I won’t give the exact location here but it is not hard to find it with a little searching online. The hike to the ruin is short but requires descending a steep, rocky trail into down cliff faces. The young kids in our group did not have any trouble navigating the trail.
Probably hundreds of people visit the site every year. I’m sure it once sheltered amazing artifacts, but the obvious ones were looted and hauled away long ago. Still, by looking closely we found old corn cobs near some of the walls.
We found impressive potters shards and chert chips in the bushes below the ruin. We left there exactly as we found them, happy to discover there are still treasures to be seen in these canyon.
Ancestral Puebloan ruins are fragile. The biggest danger comes from enthusiasts who may well “love them to death.” We hope you will visit with respect. Please do not climb on the walls or cluster any shards found.
I’m having fun taking my grandchildren to see these places. I hope the ruins survive so my kids can take their granchildren.