FEBRUARY 2018
 |
| YELLOW HOUSE RUINS |
 |
| GREEN MASK PICTOGRAPHS |
 |
| RUINS IN GRAND GULCH |
 |
| WALL RUINS |
 |
| RUINS IN GRAND GULCH |
 |
| WALL RUINS |
 |
| GREEN MASK PICTOGRAPHS |
 |
| SHEIKS CANYON |
 |
| YELLOW HOUSE RUINS |
 |
| GRANARY IN SHEIKS CANYON |
Sheiks Canyon to Wall Ruins is a great nine-mile round-trip hike through Bears Ears that passes by numerous ruins and some cool pictographs. The trailhead is located just off highway 261, three miles past the Bullet Canyon Trailhead. Many people will combine Sheiks Canyon with Bullet Canyon for a fourteen-mile round-trip hike. This would be the ideal way to hike these two canyons, but as I had already visited Bullet Canyon, I just went up and down Sheiks to save time. If you have a low-clearance vehicle like me, you will need to park about a quarter mile before the official trailhead where the road starts to get rough. From the trailhead you will just head down the wash and follow it until it becomes a canyon.
From the trailhead, it is just under a mile to the Yellow House Ruins located on the right side of the canyon. Keep your eyes peeled for granaries for the next half-mile or so on the right side of the canyon. There are supposed to be two here, but I was only able to find one. After the granaries it is a long walk down Sheiks Canyon before you reach the next set of ruins. There are a couple steep sections, so watch for cairns to help guide you down the easiest route. Finally, just before reaching Grand Gulch, you will come upon the Green Mask Ruins. You will first see a large number of pictographs located high on the ceiling of an alcove, followed by some ruins and more pictographs. The Green Mask itself can be quite difficult to find. I didn't find it until on my way back, after reading some material in an information box provided by the BLM near the ruins. When looking at the pictographs high on the alcove ceiling, the Green Mask is the pictograph located furthest to the right. Because it is so small and faint, you can't see it until you are right in front of it. I had forgotten my camera, but I tried taking a couple pictures with my phone. As the pictograph was pretty high, and my phone is not good at zooming in, my pictures were too blurry to post.
Just past the Green Mask Ruins, Sheiks Canyon will run into Grand Gulch. A little after entering Grand Gulch, you will see the Cave Ruins high up in an alcove. I didn't see an easy way up to them, so I just continued down the canyon to the next set. There is an unnamed set between the Cave Ruins and the Wall Ruins that I wasn't able to find until on my way back. They were pretty nice, and were located in a slight bulb-out in the canyon. Just past these ruins are the Wall Ruins, which were easily visible from the trail. After visiting the Wall Ruins I made the trek back out of the canyon. For whatever reason, Sheiks Canyon doesn't appear to be quite as popular as some of the other hikes in the area. I had it fairly low on my to-do list, but was pleasantly surprised with the quality of ruins and pictographs. I visited Sheiks Canyon during an unseasonably warm February in 2018, and only saw two other groups of hikers in the canyon while I was there.
