The Citadel Hike, Bears Ears National Monument, Mexican Hat, Utah
*Please treat all cultural and archaeological sites with respect. I strongly recommend taking a look at this website to understand best practices before doing this hike or any hike that visits a cultural site.
**Dogs are not allowed on this hike.
***A permit is required for this hike.
Mike and I were driving home through Southern Utah and decided to stretch our legs for a hike. We decided to hike to The Citadel in Bears Ears National Monument. The trailhead for this hike is down Cigarette Spring Road. A mile or two down the dirt road, you will come upon a permit/fee station. When we did this hike, the cost was $5 per person for a day permit. Please pay for the permit - it is put to good use. We parked at the 2WD trailhead. If you have a 4x4 high clearance vehicle, you can cut off about 0.8 miles each way and drive to the 4WD trailhead.
We set out from the 2WD trailhead and walked along the 4x4 road for 0.8 miles until we came to the 4WD trailhead. There, we turned right onto the trail. This trail followed along the rim of the canyon and was very easy walking with nice views for the next 1.5 miles. At this point, we came to the end of the rim and got our first view of the peninsula the citadel was on. If you use AllTrails, I would stop following their GPX at this point as it is wrong. Instead, you’ll notice some cairns that take you down ~20 feet to a ledge below the rim. This ledge was well-cairned, and I recommend continuing to follow those.
At one point, it may feel like the cairns end, but they continue to wrap around to hikers right under the rim. They will then cut back left and lead you to the land bridge that gets you to the peninsula. I thought walking on this land bridge was pretty neat, and Mike and I found ourselves discussing how it may have been formed. Once we got to the other side, we continued to the follow the cairns which led us to The Citadel.
This site is extremely impressive. The walls were still in great shape, and it was really neat to think about how and why that site was chosen to build what we now call The Citadel. There is a sign asking visitors not to touch any of the walls or enter the rooms in order to preserve the site. After walking around the site and taking some pictures, we were ready to head back the way we came.
Overall, this was a really great hike. It is one of the more impressive archaeological sites I have seen in Utah. It was an outing I really enjoyed and it now has me thinking about going back to see some more of the archaeological sites in the area in the future.
Total Stats: 5.8 miles, 500 ft of elevation gain
