The Citadel Ruins: A Defensive Fortress in the Sky || Ancestral Puebloan Ruins Hike in Utah

Perched on a practically impregnable rock island in the sky, The Citadel Ruins offer beautifully preserved Ancestral Puebloan ruins with sweeping views and a stunning hike and scramble to reach them. The first two miles of the hike take you along the rim of a mesa, with views to Bears Ears, the Abajo Mountains, canyons below, and more mountain ranges marching into the distance. Potholes and water pockets were full of clear, still water left over from recent rains.

From the mesa rim, the easy section ends, and you’ll scramble down between boulders and through cracks to reach a bench that runs towards the narrow neck of sandstone. Before reaching the narrow neck with sheer drops to either side, you must navigate down slick rock slabs where sure footing is essential. Crossing the narrow neck, you arrive at a rock island, and have to scale its sides to reach the ruins. This has an amazing payoff, as you reach a set of well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ruins built and expanded between ~1100 and 1250 AD.

After enjoying the ruins and views, your adventure isn’t done, as you must retrace your steps and hike, clamber, climb, and scramble back up to the main mesa top before returning to your car. This is a great outdoors adventure, offering just the right amount of challenge to make you feel like you’ve earned it, with a touch of feeling like Indiana Jones searching for historical treasures.

While there are stone cairns, you’ll want to have route-finding skills and be comfortable with scrambling and exposed sandstone slabs. The road in was rutted and required a high-clearance vehicle and off-road driving skills.

If you visit, please do so respectfully. Do not disturb or enter the ruins, leave any artifacts as you found them, stay off the cryptobiotic soil on the hike in, and in general, practice Leave No Trace Principles.

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0:19 - Start of hike
1:35 - Water pockets on the mesa top
3:08 - Mesa top slick rock section
3:44 - Aerial view of the neck and island
3:58 - Scrambling to a lower level
4:55 - Walking along a rock shelf
5:10 - Slick rock slab descent
6:13 - Crossing the neck - sheer drops to sides
7:14 - Ascending the island in the sky
7:30 - Route 1 of 2
7:45 - First view of ruins!
8:00 - Route 2 (the way I went)
9:05 - Looking for the next way up to the ruins' level
10:56 - Last scramble up
11:27 - Exploring the ruins
17:37 - Scrambling down
19:40 - Final scramble before the neck
20:17 - Ancient wall?
20:49 - Aerial views of the neck
22:33 - Aerial views of slick rock slab scramble
23:16 - FPV of slab climb
23:50 - Bench walk back
24:38 - Final fortress view
24:58 - Final scramble ascent to mesa top
26:10 - Back to the mesa top and views
27:38 - End of hike check in
28:30 - Back to parking lot and car

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