IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

May 21-22, 2011

After spending much of the day exploring Montezuma Canyon I headed over the border into Colorado and found a campsite in the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Then I made my way over to the Holly Group of Hovenweep National Monument.

Holly

Holly House and Boulder House near the head of the canyon.

Holly House

A closer look at the Holly House.

Hovenweep Castle Sunset

After spending some time at the Holly Group I made my way over to Little Ruin Canyon so that I could photograph the Hovenweep Castle at sunset. The biting gnats and other bugs were terrible while I waited for the sun to go down…

Once the sun was down I headed back to camp for the night. I had wanted to try some star trails this evening, but was too tired to stay up….especially since I was planning on heading back to Little Ruin Canyon for sunrise!

Twin Towers

The Twin Towers at sunrise.

Eroded Boulder House

The Eroded Boulder House and Rim Rock House.

Once the sun was up, I left Hovenweep and started on my way home…..but, of course, I would be making a few more stops on the way 😉

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Another weekend on my own, so I decided to head on down to start really exploring Montezuma Canyon. I have driven through the canyon before, but that was during a rainstorm in 2008 and I missed a lot on that trip. This time I started at the south end near the old Hatch Trading Post and ended up going about 15-20 miles up the canyon before turning back around. I only knew the locations of a few rock art panels and ruins, but I managed to find quite a lot on my own. I’m sure I missed a ton, so I know I’ll be heading back there again!

First Horse

The first of a few horse petroglyphs I would find in the canyon. It seems to be emerging from the crack in the wall.

Fading Circles

I managed to spot these faint concentric circles high up on a cliff from the road and then hiked over to investigate.

Bird Feet?

After spotting this spiral carved onto the top of a large boulder in an alcove, I noticed the other faint carvings around it. A few of them look like birds feet? It also appears there are some sandal prints up near the spiral. Based on the location of these petroglyphs, it makes me wonder if there is any light interaction on them during the solstice or equinox…

Duckhead Party

I spotted this panel tucked under an overhang high above and climbed up to find a pretty impressive and well preserved panel.

Coyote

What looks like a coyote as part of the same panel above.

Two Horses

I found these two horses on a ledge below the panel posted above.

A Horse

A closer look at one of the above horses.

Petroglyph Over Ruin

Here’s a small ruin with an anthropomorphic petroglyph above.

Continue reading

Day 9: Long Fingers Canyon

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The last day of our 9 day trip had finally arrived and I was looking forward to getting home and taking a real shower. We wanted to make this a shorter day so that we wouldn’t be getting home too late. We broke down camp, had a quick breakfast and then we crossed over Comb Ridge and headed south along Butler Wash. Then we hiked into Long Fingers Canyon and explored all of the alcoves, ruins and rock art that we could find. It was a nice and easy hike with a lot to see and explore. It’s amazing how many large alcoves this short canyon contains!

To the Comb

Hiking along the ‘now closed’ road towards Comb Ridge and Long Fingers Canyon.

White Hands

The first large alcove we came to had a set of white handprints on the back wall.

Red Figure

As we neared the Long Fingers Ruins we passed a number of faint petroglyphs and pictographs. I spotted this faint red anthropomorph high above.

Flying Target

This is certainly one of the more unique petroglyphs I have come across. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was hard to get a good shot of it, but I think this one turned out OK.

Stick Figure

Another of the faint petroglyphs on the way to the ruins.

Pregnant Stick Figure

Here’s another stick figure that has a round middle section….my guess would be representing pregnancy.

Metate Designs

This boulder has a few interesting petroglyphs and a couple of metate grooves.

Jared in the Alcove

Jared exiting the deep alcove below the ruins.

Continue reading

Day 8: Mule Canyon

Saturday, April 16, 2011

On Saturday we woke up again to yet another cold morning, but thankfully not quite as cold as the previous day. Originally we were planning on staying in our current campsite for the last night, but at the last minute we changed our plans and decided to move to Comb Wash for the last night. We packed up camp and headed over to Comb Wash and then setup camp again. Once camp was set, we headed over to Mule Canyon and were hoping to take a nice leisurely stroll up the canyon for an easy day of exploring……but as I stated before, is seems Jared and I don’t quite know the meaning of an ‘easy day’ because by the time we reached the Jeep again we had hiked over 8.5 miles round trip with a lot of climbing up to ruins along the way.

Of course we visited the House on Fire (Flaming Roof) ruins, and then we continued up the canyon a few more miles searching for other ruins and rock art as we went. I know we missed some of them, probably because we turned around too soon, so I’m sure I’ll be heading back again sometime in the future 😉

Flaming Roof

Curved Flames

House on Fire Overview

An overview of the House on Fire ruins.

Mule Canyon Wall

The next set of ruins we found up the canyon from House on Fire.

Mule Canyon

Jared and the view up Mule Canyon.

High Ruins Overview

A well-preserved set of ruins further up.

High Ruins

A closer look at the ruins since we didn’t even try to find a way up to them since there was no obvious route.

Resting Tree

When we reached the spot in the canyon we turned around at, I stopped to rest in the shade of this tree and took this photo as I lay on the cool sandstone.

On our way back down Mule Canyon we stopped and climbed up to one more site we had skipped on the way up. I’m glad we did, since there turned out to be some cool rock art, too.

Circles and Stripes

The top of the alcove glows bright orange in the background with the large concentric circles in the foreground.

Paint and Petroglyphs

Here we found another painted wall that used to be in the back of a structure. There are plenty of petroglyphs located above the paint, too.

Continue reading

Day 7: Big Man Panel & Lower Comb Wash

Friday, April 15, 2011

When we woke up on Friday morning it was about 26 degrees out…the coldest morning so far on the trip! We had another quick breakfast and then took off for the Government Trailhead. Soon we were hiking across Pollys Pasture until we reached the Government Trail that drops down into Grand Gulch.

Government Trail

The sign marking the descent into Grand Gulch.

Grand Gulch View

A view over Grand Gulch as we head down the Government Trail.

Once we reached the bottom of Grand Gulch we headed upstream to the Big Man Panel. Along the way we passed a small and well preserved granary on a ledge above us.

Small Granary

Soon we reached the Big Man Panel. We spent some time exploring the area and taking plenty of photos.

Big Man Panel

Big Man Panel Straight On

A closer look at the Big Man Panel.

Big Man Alcove

An overview of the large alcove this panel is found in.

Line of Hands

There were plenty of handprints next to the large anthropomorphs.

Big Man #1

Big Man #2

It was a nice easy hike to reach the panel…..but the hike back out to the trailhead was a bit slower and more tiring…

Continue reading