Boat & Hike to Defiance House (Forgotten Canyon), Lake Powell, Utah

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Defiance House is located in Forgotten Canyon on Lake Powell. Defiance House is named after the warrior pictographs on the cliff above the ruin. Defiance House was occupied by Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans) from approximately A.D. 1250 to 1285. Take a boat from Bullfrog, approximately. 40 minutes,15 miles (24 km) by water. Boat into Forgotten Canyon as far as lake levels allow. Some wayfinding through a sandy wash may be necessary to find the trail. Keep an eye on the cliff to your left to spot the pictographs that inspired the name. There are steps leading up to the 800 year old archeological site. Visit With Respect. The structures are made of local materials and mortar that can easily be damaged. About 2 mile (3.2 km) out and back trail depending on water level. Pets are not allowed in the site. No one knows why the Ancestral Puebloans built in such an inaccessible place. The site is protected from the elements in the winter, and it is shady and cool in the summer. Or perhaps it was a place of refuge, easily defensible high in the cliff. Were the three defiant warriors painted on the cliff wall to warn potential enemies? Perhaps we'll never know. Nor do we know why the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned Defiance House. Drought, food shortages, enemies, or overuse of the land could all have contributed to the exodus. The structures and rock art are very old and are fragile. Please do not sit, lean or stand on walls. Enter buildings only through doorways or by ladder into the kiva. Do not touch or deface rock art, or carve graffiti. Head up Forgotten Canyon and take the second canyone to the right. Continue upstream approximately 1 1/2 miles to Defiance House (at some point you will have to get out and hike)

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