Beef Basin, Monticello BLM, UT

Dates

May 6th - May 12th 2012

Service Project

Trail maintenance

Free Days

Hiking to and exploring ancient ruins

Accommodations

Tent, cabin or car camping

Trip Rating

Active : Raking, brushing, lopping, bending, shoveling

Leaders

Henry Whiteside
Norm Feaster

Equipment

Beef Basin is a largely unknown high desert valley sandwiched between much more famous nearby places such as Canyonlands National Park, Dark Canyon Wilderness and Cedar Mesa. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Monticello Field Office, Beef Basin is a treasure trove of ancient ruins, uniquely free-standing similar to those found in Hovenweep National Monument. The northern part of the valley is located inside Canyonlands NP boundary, but the southern portion is managed by BLM. The valley itself is really a northerly extension of the Cedar Mesa ecosystem featuring pinyon-juniper-sagebrush forest and ringed by redrock canyons. The aptly named Ruin Canyon is nearby and Gravel Canyon flows out of Beef Basin down into Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River.

Our service project targets foot trails that see little to no regular maintenance in this remote area. This is a tent and car camping service trip, and up to four may sleep in a backcountry cabin. We'll drive out to the Beef Basin area as a group and set up our camp nearby the cabin. BLM will provide tools and materials to complete the work, as well as provide a water tank for our use all week.

Check out more photos from last year's Monticello BLM project in our gallery.