Hammond Canyon

We drove up to the Manti-La Sal National Forest near Blanding, Utah to hike the Hammond Canyon Trail. The forest road went between the "ears" of Bears Ears National Monument.
The trailhead starts about 8,200 ft of elevation. This trail connects with other trails, but we hiked out about 5.5 miles before returning and losing/regaining around 2,800 ft

The beginning of the trail goes through the forest on a gentle slope for a short ways.

Once we reached the canyon, the trail descends 1,500 in a about a mile.

Lovely views as we descend into Hammond Canyon

There were pinnacles along the way.

This large boulder reminded me of a dinosaur head.

The trail descended more gradually, once we reached the canyon floor.

a beautiful canyon, with interesting rock formations

About 5 miles down the canyon we saw Double Falls, a small waterfall.

reflection at Double Falls

another pinnacle

love the canyon walls

 

I think this one is called Three Fingers

We hiked a short distance past Three Fingers before returning up trail.

We heard there were ruins up on the west side of Three Fingers, so we hiked up to get a closer look

We did a little scrambling as we hiked higher up inthis area.

We hiked a bit above this area, but reached our turn around time, before reaching the ruins

The ruins are nestled in an alcove high up the canyon wall

zoom of the ruins

Gorgeaous view looking out over Hammond Canyon before we descended back down to the trail to hike back up to the trailhead.

There were some colorful rocks,

and several different wildflowers in bloom: