Comb Wash is a long narrow valley in south central San Juan County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States. It runs from Elk Ridge in the north approximately to the south, where it merges with the San Juan River at an elevation of about . The eastern edge of the wash is the

Comb Ridge Comb Ridge ( nv, ) is a linear north to south-trending monocline nearly 80 miles long in Southeastern Utah and Northeastern Arizona. Its northern end merges with the Abajo Mountains some eleven miles west of Blanding. It extends essentially du ...

, steep cliffs of

Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...

, rising in places to above the valley floor. (Although the Comb Wash ends at the San Juan River, the Comb Ridge continues south for about another into northern

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

On the western edge of Comb Wash is a series of canyons draining

Cedar Mesa Cedar Mesa is a plateau in San Juan County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It extends from Elk Ridge in the north, Comb Wash to the east, the gorge of the San Juan River to the south, and Grand Gulch to the west, an are ...

. To the north is Arch Canyon, which has Texas Canyon as an upper tributary. In the central section are Mule Canyon, Dry Wash, and the combined outlet of Fish and Owl canyons. To the south are McCloyd's Canyon (containing the Moon House ruin) and Road Canyon. Scattered throughout these canyons are cliff dwellings of the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

. SR-95 crosses the northern part of Comb Wash, while

U.S. Route 163 U.S. Route 163 (also U.S. Highway 163, US 163) is a U.S. Highway that runs from US 160 northward to US 191 in the U.S. states of Arizona and Utah. The southernmost of its length are within the Navajo Nation. The highway forms part of the Tr ...

crosses further south. Running along the wash is a primitive road, often impassable after floods. Nearby are the

Natural Bridges National Monument Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about northwest of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in the western United States, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the Colorado ...

, the

Grand Gulch Primitive Area Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...

, the

Valley of the Gods The Valley of the Gods is a scenic sandstone valley near Mexican Hat in San Juan County, southeastern Utah, United States. Part of Bears Ears National Monument, the Valley of the Gods is located north of Monument Valley across the San Juan Rive ...

scenic area, and

Goosenecks State Park Goosenecks State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Utah, overlooking a deep meander of the San Juan River. The park is located near the southern border of the state a short distance from Mexican Hat, Utah. Millions of years ago, the Mon ...

References

External links

Geology of Comb Wash

(on visitingtheancients.com) * * {{authority control Rivers of San Juan County, Utah Colorado Plateau Valleys of Utah Rivers of Utah

See also

References

External links