False Kiva – Canyonlands National Park

After spending the night in a hotel in Moab, I went straight to Arches National Park. In the past you could show up at the visitors center and secure a campsite on a first come first serve basis. Now the only way you can get a campsite is with an online reservation. So I was out of luck.

I asked the ranger about the Canyonlands NP campground in the Island in the Sky District. He told me that it had 18 sites and that it was all first come first serve. So, off to the Island in the Sky I went. I was in luck and by 10:00 am I had camp set up and was heading out to explore.

First stop, Green River Overlook, within walking distance of camp and the site where I captured a nice sunset the year before. I decided I would try again that evening. With cloudless skies it may not be very interesting, but you never know. Then over to Buck Canyon Overlook and a 2 mile round trip hike out to Grand View Point Overlook.

With it only being midday, I thought what can I do now? I decided to grab my camera gear and backpack and hike out towards the “False Kiva” site. The False Kiva is a “Class II” archeological site whose location will not be found on any official Canyonlands NP map. It was built by ancient Puebloan people around 1200 AD. I had come across photos of it on the internet a couple of years ago and knew I wanted to see it myself. Very little information about it and its location can be found on the internet. But after much persistence, I found a gentleman from France who described (in French) how to locate it and provided a very small topographical map. After a Google translation of the French description, I felt that I had a pretty good idea how to find it.

Last year I made an attempt to get there and after getting off track and having to back track a mile or so, I found the correct route only to “chicken out” when the way was exposed on the steep cliffs. I got close enough to see and photograph the alcove in which the False Kiva is located. But the thought of being so close to this mysterious and magical hidden gem haunted me when ever I thought about it.

This time when getting to the exposed cliffs, I told myself that this was the chance I had been waiting for and not to “chicken out” again. I kept a focus only on the faint path ahead of me and not the 1000 foot drops to my side. You first scramble down a steep slope that drops you down below the alcove, then skirt across on a series of ledges to a point where you make the climb back up a steep slope to the alcove.

Inside the alcove there were three structures, the main being the prominent stone circle. There were also holes in the alcove floor (storage cists), chained off with signs that read “Fragile Cultural Resources Please Stay Behind Barrier”, which were apparently used to store food in.

As I sat in the False Kiva alcove eating an (appropriately named for the location) Cliff Bar, I could only wonder about the people who had made this their temporary home. It was quite a special time for me to have this remote location all to myself.

After an hour photographing and contemplating the scene, with the Indiana Jones theme song playing in my head, I made the exposed journey back across the cliff face and made my exit. About 3/4 of the way back to the road, I came across another lone photographer who simply asked “Well, how was it?”. I replied “Truly magical!” After giving him some information on the route we parted ways with him saying “If my car is still out on the road tomorrow, have them come looking for me!”.

With the afternoon getting late, I decided to head into Moab and treat myself to a decent meal in celebration of my recent achievement.

After dinner I hurried back to Canyonlands to catch an unexpected fine sunset from Green River Overlook.