pigburner
05-06-2014, 12:07 AM
Thursday, April 17 The Citadel Ruin
My first hike on Cedar Mesa, but definitely not my last. A fun hike with nice scenery, a little bit of ledge walking and steep slickrock near cliffs to get down to the causeway, that wonderful approach across the causeway with cliffs on both sides (not nearly as nerve wracking as Angel's Landing), and a little scramble up to a uniquely located ruin with great views down Road Canyon. It took a bit of coaxing to get one of my daughters past a couple points in the path down to the causeway. It has what I'd call a little exposure, so if heights and cliffs bother you, you might want to pick a different ruin to visit.
Drove my RAV4 almost to the turnoff to the trailhead from Cigarette Spring Rd, but the road got just rocky enough in places that with the fully loaded vehicle, it seemed a good idea to walk the road for a mile to the trailhead rather than try to drive it.
73671
First view of the Citadel from the end of the mesa
73672
Ledge walking around the point of the peninsula (on our way out)
73673
Steep slickrock section on the south side of the peninsula coming down from the ledge
73674
Navigating more slickrock down to the causeway
73675
Crossing the causeway
73676
Looking back down the little ledge you have to climb on the causeway looks like you are close to the edge, but if you look at the previous picture, you can see you are never really near the cliff's edge.
73677
The Citadel ruin
73678
Window frame construction, complete with original twine binding
73679
Arm through the window shot. The soot being level with the middle of the window makes me wonder why they didn't think to put a small window up at the roof to let the smoke out.
73680
Continuing on from Cedar Mesa, we made it to Hanksville just in time to unload at the motel, catch a few sunset pictures outside of town, and fill up at Stan's Burger Shack.
73681
My first hike on Cedar Mesa, but definitely not my last. A fun hike with nice scenery, a little bit of ledge walking and steep slickrock near cliffs to get down to the causeway, that wonderful approach across the causeway with cliffs on both sides (not nearly as nerve wracking as Angel's Landing), and a little scramble up to a uniquely located ruin with great views down Road Canyon. It took a bit of coaxing to get one of my daughters past a couple points in the path down to the causeway. It has what I'd call a little exposure, so if heights and cliffs bother you, you might want to pick a different ruin to visit.
Drove my RAV4 almost to the turnoff to the trailhead from Cigarette Spring Rd, but the road got just rocky enough in places that with the fully loaded vehicle, it seemed a good idea to walk the road for a mile to the trailhead rather than try to drive it.
73671
First view of the Citadel from the end of the mesa
73672
Ledge walking around the point of the peninsula (on our way out)
73673
Steep slickrock section on the south side of the peninsula coming down from the ledge
73674
Navigating more slickrock down to the causeway
73675
Crossing the causeway
73676
Looking back down the little ledge you have to climb on the causeway looks like you are close to the edge, but if you look at the previous picture, you can see you are never really near the cliff's edge.
73677
The Citadel ruin
73678
Window frame construction, complete with original twine binding
73679
Arm through the window shot. The soot being level with the middle of the window makes me wonder why they didn't think to put a small window up at the roof to let the smoke out.
73680
Continuing on from Cedar Mesa, we made it to Hanksville just in time to unload at the motel, catch a few sunset pictures outside of town, and fill up at Stan's Burger Shack.
73681