IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Saturday, February 5, 2011

After finishing up in Indian Creek Canyon I continued on down the highway to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Since all of the 4×4 roads in the park were closed, I figured that I would complete some of the easier and shorter hikes that I always drive by on my way elsewhere. I started out with the Roadside Ruin.

From there I headed over to the Cave Spring Loop. It was a short but fun loop…..and it’s where I found my last rock art of the day….

Cave Spring

Cave Spring Pictographs

Cave Spring Pictograph 1

Cave Spring Pictograph 2

Cave Spring Handprints

After finishing up the loop I headed over and checked out Pothole Point. The potholes were all dry, so there weren’t any good photo ops. My last hike of the day was around the Slickrock Foot Trail. This was another nice hike with some good views in all directions.

View from the Slickrock Trail

Before heading home for the day I ended up hopping on the Lockhart Basin Road and taking it to just under the Needles Overlook before turning around and heading home. Lockart Basin is one of those trails I always mean to complete, but still haven’t yet…..maybe 2011 will be the year I finally do?

By the time I made it home it was a long day, but I had a great time and it was worth it!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

After leaving Shay Canyon I continued on down Indian Creek Canyon to find some more petroglyphs.

I started out at this large panel just above the highway. This is a cool panel as it spans two sections of the canyon wall which is separated by a large gap. Inside that gap there are even more petroglyphs!

Full Indian Creek Panel

A close-up of the panel with the crescent moons.

Crescent Moon Panel

One of the more interesting figures on this panel.

Big Feet

Next to the panels above are some very cool petroglyphs, however they are very hard to see and even harder to photograph! Here’s the best shots I was able to get when I was there…

Scorpion & Snakes

Long Snakes

Centipede & Circles

After checking out these panels, I hiked up the short side canyon looking for more rock art. I managed to find just a few more…

Indian Creek Petroglyphs 2

Indian Creek Petroglyphs

Indian Creek Anthropomorph

Stay tuned for the last installment of this day-trip……and yes, there’s even a little more rock art to come!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

After taking some photos at Newspaper Rock, I headed over to Shay Canyon. This was my first visit to this canyon, and I knew there should be a lot of petroglyphs here. I was not disappointed! I spent a while here walking along the canyon wall searching for and photographing the many petroglyphs found here.

Most of the time I was in Shay Canyon the skies were overcast, but right before I was ready to hike back to the Jeep the clouds cleared a little and the sunlight reflected off the canyon walls. I snapped these two photos when that happened.

Look Up in Shay Canyon

Shay Canyon Petroglyph Panels

One of the larger petroglyph panels.

This panel was located high above next to a crack in the canyon wall.

This is the another of the so-called ‘mastodon’ petroglyphs in the area (another being the Moab Mastodon). To me it looks just like another bear…

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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Early Saturday morning I set off for Indian Creek to explore and find some new rock art. My first stop of the day was, of course, Newspaper Rock, so that I could practice and play with my new 100-400mm lens 😉 Here’s a few photos I took there.

Newspaper Rock Scene

Flying Squirrels

Newspaper Anthropomorph

Successful Hunt

Footprints to the Spot

Wagon Wheel Anthropomorph

Sheep & Flying Squirrel

Newspaper Rock Scene

Newspaper Rock Scene

Newspaper Buffalo

Stay tuned for the rest of my day-trip… There’s a lot more new rock art to come!

This afternoon my friend Jackson and I spent a few hours exploring Plateau Creek. I wanted to stop by a rock art panel, and he was in search of some birds to photograph. Here’s a few photos I took.

The full petroglyph panel we visited…

One of the more interesting figures

After checking out the petroglyphs, we were visited by some bighorn sheep high above us

Jackson trying to get a shot of a swan

I believe this was a Robin

This guy just started at us from behind the fence along the road

I think Jackson said this was a Red-Tailed Hawk