While sitting around the table celebrating the New Year, the topic of Comb Ridge came up and someone mentioned there were 7 peaks in pretty close proximity on the ridge. I would later find out that in addition to the peaks, this was a very popular area due to cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. Someone said next weekend... with a good weather forecast the next weekend, we were in!

Carrie and I drove over from Colorado Friday night and then Dylan and Nicole met us at the beginning of the road on Saturday morning.

Our plan was to traverse all 7 peaks from north to south, so we dropped off one car at south end of the ridge near Peak 5305. We then drove the other car to the canyon due east of Tooth Benchmark.

We were hiking by around 9am after the shuttle to the trailhead. Having a cliff dwelling in the canyon helped, as it meant people had created a use trail. Despite the use trail, we still had some scrambling to get around a few dry waterfalls.

Soon we saw a small cliff dwelling, then just after, a larger one with pottery, old corn, etc. We continued up the canyon until we hit the ridge, then veered north to the top of Tooth Benchmark.

We then set off south to our next peak, The Monarch. If it were just a flat, straight line, we would have been there in 30 minutes. But there was rock to contend with, drainages to work around and other obstacles. It seemed to take forever, but eventually we found our way to the summit of our second peak.

The next 2 peaks were fairly close, but to get to them we had to descend steep, cliffy terrain on sunny south slopes, then ascend steep, cliffy terrain on snowy shaded north slopes. Rinse and repeat.

After peak 3, Procession Point, we found a huge petroglyph panel that we spent a lot of time exploring. Then it was off to Little Procession Point, which is actually higher than Procession Point, but I digress...

By the top of our fourth peak, we were getting a bit tired. The terrain between Little Procession Point and Peak 5340 was quite rough, so we decided to drop 600 feet to the base of the ridge. The going was easier for sure, but we had to cross 3 drainages before going back up. Each crossing meant finding a non-technical descent down to the wash, cross, then find a non-technical way back up the other side. Did I mention we were already tired?

We eventually got on the ridge heading up to 5340. It was good rock and smooth sailing and eventually we staggered onto the summit. Now the debate started... the next peak was pretty close, but we knew another nasty looking descent loomed. Do we continue on or pickup the last 2 peaks tomorrow?

On descent, Dylan had probably heard enough "My feet are sore". "I'm tired", "I'm out of water" and made a group decision that we were done for the day and headed to town for food!

The next morning was clear, cold with a brilliant blue sky! We started our day due east of Peak 5305 and did a great ascent right up the solid rock on the ridge to the top of the peak. We played around on the big dropoff on the east side (think shark fin). Then it was off to Peak 5313, our final peak of the weekend. In the final saddle before that peak, we found Moki steps in the sandstone, how cool! The final summit push was on smooth red rock, followed by a scramble on and through boulders to another rocky summit with a huge dropoff on the east side.

After summit number 7, we explored the west face of Comb Ridge, finding more Moki steps coming up an improbable cliff. Then we traversed over a drainage to the south and descended into a drainage containing another set of cliff dwellings.

These cliff dwellings were much more visited, with trails and footprints all over.

After visiting the dwellings, we headed down the trail, which led right to the car. Sadly, that meant the incredible weekend was over. Great area, great company and great weather!!!

All of the peaks on Comb Ridge are accessed from the east side via Butler Wash Road. Butler Wash Road is accessed south of the town of Bluff, Utah. It is a good road, but has a few sections where some clearance would be helpful. I am guessing a sedan, driving slowly, could make it on this road.

See the GPS track and trip report.