Name the Rock Art?

[Utahtea]

Oh my goodness--these are stunning! I had to stoop to Google, because I was dying to see if pictographs this size were even a thing--and of course the search engine took me right straight to your spot, because they're not only stunning, they're unique. Such a shame that "Clay Whipple" and his pals felt compelled to deface these treasures!

In any case, I now know where these are located, but since I cheated, I'll disqualify myself on this round, just in case somebody else knows about them through more legitimate means.

I'm taking notes here. My next trip to Utah is going to include lots and lots of petroglyphs (and at least one set of life-sized pictographs)!

Rick

It breaks my heart and makes me so mad to see the vandalism at these places. Last year we were at a sight where you could see where someone was trying to cut out a couple of panels of petroglyphs! They were not successful and got caught but now the cut marks are all around the petroglphys. I'm going to use this as one of my places so not telling know where it's at! ;) I will warn you that some of the remote places I'm gong to show, I'm not going to post how to get to them and if people want the information they can send me private message.


The last picture with me in it is on private land. It use to be you could take pictures of the pictographs thought the chain link fence but the bushes grew so much it's not possible now. There is a sign and I can post the information if anyone is interested on who to contact to get permission to go on the property. I did try more than once to contact them and let them know when we'd be there but I never heard back so when the gate was open, I took that as we could enter.

Keep your note pad handy...I plan to show a lot from Utah!

Here's a little hint for those who are still trying to guess. It's just a couple miles from an Interstate and there is a paved road to the petroglyphs. There is also a ghost town (with the same name) just a few miles from the rock art.

Utahtea

[Mark Sedenquist]

Just an aside about the vandalism issues.

We have a friend here in Las Vegas who is part of a national "posse" of people tasked with safeguarding petroglyphs and pictographs in the Mojave Desert. Each member is responsible for one specific art installation and they are sworn to keep the location secret. They even agree not to tell their spouses or close friends the location. Once a month, depending on weather, they drive/hike to their "art" and check on the condition. They are allowed to tell someone that they are heading out there and given a rough GPS location, in case they don't return on time.

This posse currently has an inventory that is reputed to number in the hundreds. I personally know of a dozen places that are not listed on any map and most are within an hour or two of Las Vegas. In some places in the Mojave, I doubt it is possible to walk more than 30 minutes in any direction and not find more examples of this ancient graffiti. One such place is an about hour from my house and it is a place where kids (boys) have been going for millennia for practice shooting. In the parking area (wide spot in the road), it is possible to find .22 shells and arrowheads in close proximity.

In the near-by Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, are a very number of petroglyphs who routinely get hit by spray can-wielding assbites. Local volunteers have formed a team of dedicated cleaners who are proficient at removing modern graffiti while not damaging (too much) the underlying rock art. I have some representative photos someplace. I will try and find them and post here.

In the meantime, here is a Mountain Sheep (possible depiction) found in Sloan Canyon about 30 minutes from my house.


Photo by Deborah Wall, published in Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest.

Mark

[Rick Quinn]

So, I might as well let the cat all the way out of the bag. These amazing panels are in a place called Sego Canyon, a couple of miles north of Thompson Springs, just off I-70, and not far from Arches National Park. I've never been there, but I plan to go!

I can't believe something as spectacular as those life-sized pictographs are on private land! Is it just that particular panel that's fenced off? How close is it to the rest of them? Since the main grouping is marked on the map, I assume those panels in your other photos are on State land(?), and quasi-protected? Please tell me the pock-marks on the figures aren't the result of some sub-human s#@& with a rifle using them for target practice!?




On a lighter note, here's one for you (or anybody else who thinks they recognize this particular bovine. Note: for purposes of orientation, he's facing left, he has a long body, and his horns curve upward.



Rick

[Rick Quinn]

We have a friend here in Las Vegas who is part of a national "posse" of people tasked with safeguarding petroglyphs and pictographs in the Mojave Desert.

Mark

My neighbor across the street is part of the same group, and he works in the desert north of Phoenix. Another friend in Tucson was prowling around the desert near there, and got caught on restricted land. They gave him a choice of paying a fine for trespassing, or joining in the conservation efforts. He chose the latter, and he's been involved ever since. There are literally tens of thousands of sites in the southwest that are of pre-historic significance, ranging from potsherds at an ancient campsite to entire cites, like Chaco Canyon. When you look at the totality of what's out there, you begin to realize how little we really know about the ancient past.

Rick

[Utahtea]

So, I might as well let the cat all the way out of the bag. These amazing panels are in a place called Sego Canyon, a couple of miles north of Thompson Springs, just off I-70, and not far from Arches National Park. I've never been there, but I plan to go!

I can't believe something as spectacular as those life-sized pictographs are on private land! Is it just that particular panel that's fenced off? How close is it to the rest of them? Since the main grouping is marked on the map, I assume those panels in your other photos are on State land(?), and quasi-protected? Please tell me the pock-marks on the figures aren't the result of some sub-human s#@& with a rifle using them for target practice!?




On a lighter note, here's one for you (or anybody else who thinks they recognize this particular bovine. Note: for purposes of orientation, he's facing left, he has a long body, and his horns curve upward.



Rick

The Sego Canyon Rock Art site is on BLM land, with a couple picnic tables and an out house and that is where the first three pictures are taken. When you're at my third picture you can look across and down the road just a little ways and see a fence with a red metal gate and a little to the right of that you should be able to see the heads of the ones in my 4th picture if the bushes haven't grown to much. It's a short walk. If you drive up the road less than 1/2 mile you'll find the small Sego cemetery and from here make the right hand turn on Sego Canyon Road up to the Sego Ghost town about another mile down the road. There's not much left at the ghost town but it's interesting to walk around.

Your pictographs looked familiar so I looked it up. I have been twice, but since I cheated I'll give others a chance to figure it out.

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

Actually, I suppose it would be a little too easy for someone to Google "Blue Bull," and come up with the location, which is the "Blue Bull Cave" in the Canyon del Muerto branch of Canyon de Chelly National Monument. but honestly, you won't see many pictures (on Google, or anywhere else) that show the actual bull as clearly as this shot, because it's ultra-rare to see it when the sun is low enough to provide natural light beneath the overhang:


Here's a wider shot of the cave and the largest rock art panel:


And here's a couple of close-ups with some detail, nice and sharp. These are the images you'll most commonly see associated with Blue Bull Cave.




Here's what my Navajo friend had to say about this place. (Note: this is a literal transcription of a taped conversation):

"That's the Blue Bull right there, and here's the antelopes, you can see some antelopes here and there's some horse riders there. See, this one's different, because the horse’s hooves aren’t just circles, and there's more detail, like blankets on the horses. This is Navajo right here, and these are Anasazis on this side. A lot of them are pretty much drawn over, like right here you can see they're drawn over the older ones. So a lot of these drawings are probably dated way way way back. The ones that are more distinct are newer, probably around 700 to 1250 AD. And you can tell that this one has like feathers; the feathers came from the south. The Anasazi, when they were living here they were living peacefully. But then they started trading, and South American Indians started coming up this way, and then they started to marry into the culture. When you see the head-dresses with feathers, they were actually from those people.

South American Indians?

Oh, yes. They traded with the Anasazi people, and when they traded with them, they married into the culture. The Anasazi people did not know that the South American Indians were cannibals. They didn't know that, when they started to do these ceremonies. When they started to adopt those ways, they started becoming warlike, and they started to fight one another.

We always say, "What happened to the Anasazi people? Where did they go?"

When I was growing up, I asked my grandparents, “Where did these people go? We only see their drawings on the wall.”

What my grandparents used to tell me was, there was a big fire from the sky that happened, and it killed all the Anasazis. Or they would say, there was a big whirly wind that came, and took them.

The Blue Bull is Navajo, and you can see a warrior up here. Those are Navajos. See the feathers?"


Is that cool, or what?

Now, someone else should take a turn!

Rick

[Utahtea]

This is one of our early finds and we've been back many, many times. It's an easy to reach location and there's no real hiking involved. My pictures are the main petroglphys and pictographs but it you go exploring you will find many, many more! What I love about it is there are such a range of dates of the petroglyphs and pictographs. I RARELY publicly post pictures of myself but I wanted to give you an idea of their size.









Do you know the location/name of these petroglyphs and pictographs?

Utahtea

Before I move on, I'd like to share pictures of the information signs at Sego Canyon to give you more information on the rock art in this area.









Utahtea

[Utahtea]

I was going to save this Rock Art for much later because it is hard to find it's also a pretty hard trail to do. I decided to do it now because of the recent post about vandalism and rock art.

This trail is not very well marked and we almost turned back in a couple of spots. We are older but we ran into a younger couple who don't plan on coming back either. Good thing they ran into us because they would have missed the three groups of Rock Art if we hadn't shown them!

The rock art is named for this first picture. This is a zoomed in picture.



It doesn't look easy to reach so we didn't even try to get close. Here is what it looks like from the trail. It's in the center of the picture in the shady alcove.



Along the trail to the left are some other great petroglyphs. It's hard to believe but that other couple passed right by these and didn't see them. They were really low and near the trail too!



This panel is to the right of the first picture. This is where someone tried to cut the petroglphys out of the side of the cliff! :'(



A little more information. These are located right off a scenic byway and there is a location on the byway where IF you know where to look with binoculars you can see them!

More details upon request. Can you name the Rock Art and do you know what scenic byway it is?

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

The rock art is named for this first picture. This is a zoomed in picture.



Can you name the Rock Art and do you know what scenic byway it is?

Utahtea

That panel looked really familiar, but I wasn't quite sure of the name. I thought to myself, "Self? If you were naming this set of pictographs, what would you call it?" A Thousand Palms? No (and not 29 Palms, either). How about a Hundred Palms? Or--a Hundred Hands? I tried feeding that into all powerful Google, and--Bingo!

I can say with absolute assurance that we're looking at the Hundred Hands Panel in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It's located near the town of Escalante, right off one of my favorite roads in the entire world: Utah State Route 12 between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. That stretch of road is sometimes known as Scenic Byway 12, or, less frequently as (I love this) "A Journey Through Time" Scenic Byway.

Keep them coming! That was a good one!

I'm a little dubious about my own ability to negotiate a "pretty hard trail," but next time I make that drive, I think I'd be willing to give it a try! That panel is amazing (no worries about the climb; I have a really good zoom! ;-)

Rick

[Utahtea]

That panel looked really familiar, but I wasn't quite sure of the name. I thought to myself, "Self? If you were naming this set of pictographs, what would you call it?" A Thousand Palms? No (and not 29 Palms, either). How about a Hundred Palms? Or--a Hundred Hands? I tried feeding that into all powerful Google, and--Bingo!

I can say with absolute assurance that we're looking at the Hundred Hands Panel in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It's located near the town of Escalante, right off one of my favorite roads in the entire world: Utah State Route 12 between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. That stretch of road is sometimes known as Scenic Byway 12, or, less frequently as (I love this) "A Journey Through Time" Scenic Byway.

Keep them coming! That was a good one!

I'm a little dubious about my own ability to negotiate a "pretty hard trail," but next time I make that drive, I think I'd be willing to give it a try! That panel is amazing (no worries about the climb; I have a really good zoom! ;-)

Rick

Rick is correct! I've put a link below to a really good hiking guide that I used with great pictures on how to find the trail and rock art, so you don't get lost! His second picture is taken at the overlook I mentioned. As you are traveling on Hwy 12 south from Boulder, Utah not far past Calf Creek Falls is the turn out on the right for the parking for the Escalante River Trailhead where you will parked but that is not the hike to the Rock Art. If you continue driving down Hwy 12 just past the Kiva Koffeehouse is a turnout on the right with a sandstone wall. It's from here you can see the Rock Art from a distance with binoculars or a good zoom camera lens. If you're coming from Escalante the overlook is on the left and if you have reached the Kiva Koffeehouse you've missed the overlook.

The trail itself is more of a social trail and really not that long or difficult EXEPT in a couple areas and one area is really a scramble UP some rocks and even harder coming down!

https://www.gjhikes.com/2014/08/100-...ictograph.html

Utahtea