On one of our visits to Comb Ridge Rhonda and I were just poking along Butler Wash, scanning the cliffs for anything of interest, when we spotted a wide, gaping alcove high up in the sandstone. Something about its shape caught our eye. We knew nothing about it. In a place like Comb Ridge, if something looks like it might hold ruins, chances are - it does. Turns out, it’s called Fishmouth Cave and the trail there has quite a few ruins and remnants of a long-ago people who knew how to pick a good neighborhood.
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| Fishmouth Cave - You can see why it caught our eye. |
There’s a good reason places like this were favored for building dwellings: they just make sense. Comb Ridge runs like the spine of an ancient beast across the desert, and its sandstone folds are full of natural alcoves - sheltered, defensible, and often south-facing for warmth in winter. The slopes below offered flat ground for farming, and back then, small seeps and springs would’ve provided just enough water to make a go of it. From an Ancestral Puebloan standpoint, it was about as good as real estate got. You had sun, shade, shelter, and the high ground. What more could you ask for?
As we hiked up the wash, it quickly became clear we were not the first to follow this route. Low walls tucked into shallow alcoves, weathered plaster, and the occasional handprint on stone hinted at generations of life here. The four ruins we visited along the way aren’t flashy - no great towers or elaborate kivas - but they speak quietly of endurance. One site had a small granary, barely hanging on to the cliffside. Another featured a single room tucked neatly into the rock.
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| Hand Prints |
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| This was an interesting structure, unlike anything we've seen before. With black traces of a fire was it for cooking, heat or both? |
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| Thousand Year Old Finger Impressions |
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| Being watched... |
The cave itself, when we reached it, was massive but less impressive than the ruins leading up to it. Although we found faint handprints and bits of corn cob on the ground, a grinding stone worn smooth by generations of use, we also found some modern graffiti. But even with the scars of recent visitors, the place still held a powerful presence - like a place that had simply fallen quiet, still watching from the ridge. However, it's more interesting from a distance, and the route up to it is rather precarious, so you really won't miss much by skipping it.
If you ever find yourself drifting along Butler Wash with time to spare, and curiosity in your pocket, look up for Fishmouth Cave. If you follow the canyon and take the time to notice the small details - the curve of a handprint, a smoothed-out metate, a weathered wall holding its ground against centuries - you’ll walk away with more than photos. You’ll carry the quiet kind of awe that only comes from brushing up against something ancient, still lingering in the warm stone and open sky.
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