IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Earlier today I found some info that helped lead me to some rock art located in the Colorado National Monument, so after work I went home and changed before heading out in search of them. Luckily, they were easier to find than I though they would be, but unfortunately the area they were located in had a lot of vandalism and graffiti. Here’s a few photos of what I found…

Three Anthropomorphs

Three anthropomorphic figures carved into a boulder.

White Rocks Anthropomorph

A closer look at one of the above figures.

Antenna Men

Interesting figures that appear to have antennas coming out of their heads.

Very Faded Sheep

A very faded red sheep painted on a boulder.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I spent Saturday in the Swell visiting some new and old rock art sites…it was pretty hot out and the bugs were out in force during my first hike……but it was still a great day! I’ll let the photos do the speaking…

Rainbow & Dotted Anthropomorph

Large Shield

Broken-Hearted Man

Arm in Arm

Cowboy’s Secret

Observing

Secret Site

Also known as the Observer Panel.

Funky Rainbow

One of the most colorful rainbows that I have come across.

Funks Cave Figures

Lined up next to the rainbow above.

Fading Shields

Red & Yellow Paint

Some of the more interesting pictographs I have seen.

Quail Panel

Called the Quail Panel because the figures resemble quail. Certainly the most Fremont ‘shield’ figures I have seen in one place. These figures are pretty small, at around 6 inches in height.

Alcove Panel

Of course I made a stop at the Buckhorn Wash Panel on the way home.

Black Dragon Creature

Before grabbing dinner at Ray’s in Green River, I also stopped at the Black Dragon Panel. The road was a bit rougher than the last time I was here….probably because of the recent flash floods in the area. One other thing I noticed while visiting the panel is just how well the alcove collects heat from the sun. The temperature outside was close to 100, and while I climbed up into the alcove it must have been at least 10-20 degrees warmer. I could feel the heat radiating off of the sandstone. It was pretty uncomfortable, so I didn’t stick around long. I’m sure it would feel much nicer in the colder winter months 😉

Saturday & Sunday, July 16-17, 2011

This past weekend Amanda and I headed down to the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument to visit some ruins and rock art that I have wanted to get to for a while. The weather was pretty nice all weekend, in the upper 80’s during the hottest part of the day, and there were enough clouds in the sky to block the sunlight occasionally to help keep things feeling a little cooler.

Hundred Handprints

Our first stop was at the Hundred Handprints panel near the Escalante River. Unlike the last cave I visited that claimed to have 100 handprints, this one delivered!

Hunter Panel

An interesting petroglyph panel overlooking the Escalante River.

Escalante Hunter

A closer look at the above panel.

Confluence Site

A severely damaged petroglyph site.

Escalante Vandalism

Closer look at the damage.

Confluence Sheep

A lone sheep that luckily was not damaged.

Our next stop was visiting a few small alcoves that contained a whole bunch of small pictographs known as the Weavers Caves because of the many needle-like paintings found within.

Weavers Designs 1

Very fine and detailed pictographs unlike anything I have seen in the area before.

Weavers Designs 2

Weavers Sheep

One of the few figures that wasn’t abstract. It kind of looks like it may have been a bighorn sheep.

Faint Creature

The only anthropomorphic-like figure I found in the Weavers Caves.

Continue reading

Saturday, June 25, 2011

On Saturday I was hoping to spend around half the day with Amanda exploring the area around Rangely, Colorado. We were planning on revisiting a few rock art sites and maybe a couple of new ones, too. Unfortunately, we ended up cutting the trip a bit short because the bugs and gnats were just unbearable. Once we got out of the Jeep we would maybe have a few minutes until they found us and swarmed around us. We were wearing bug spray, but it didn’t help at all. After our first stop at the Carrot Men Panel, Amanda decided to stay in the Jeep for the rest of our stops. If I kept moving, the bugs weren’t too bad, but the second I stopped to take a photo, that was all over! After being chased by swarms of bugs at each stop we made, I decided to call it a day early and come back another time. I did get a few photos, though….

Carrot Men Panel

Our first stop was a revisit to the Carrot Men Panel.

Carrot Men Spirits

A closer look at the Carrot Men.

Three Horses

Three incised horses at the Crooks Brand Site believed to be Ute.

Horse & Lichen

Another horse nearby above some lichen.

Fremont Ridge Panel

The Fremont Ridge petroglyphs with anthropomorphic figures that are similar to the pictographs at the Carrot Men Panel.

Carrot Men Petroglyphs

A closer look at the petroglyphs. Up near the top you can see a small figure with a hump-back or burden basket.

A Thousand Year Old Record, Gone in A Day!

It’s been over a year since I last visited The Shield site, and I see they have put up a new sign since I was here last. I have quoted the sign below:

It belongs to you.”

Shield Site Damage

The vandalized Shield Site.

Climbing Hands

A pair of white hands reach for the sky within the Canyon Pintado National Historic District.

The Guardian

This figure is displayed prominently near the entrance to Canyon Pintado. It’s believed to be from a transitional period between Barrier Canyon Style and Fremont.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

This hiking trip in the San Rafael Swell turned out to be a very unique experience for me. I was tagging along with Phillipe on a hike he had planned for his long Southwest trip. I knew what general area we would be hiking in, but other than that I did no additional research on the route….I left it all up to Philippe. On top of that, I knew we were making a loop, but I didn’t even know how long we would be hiking for (it turned out to be about 12.5 miles round trip)….I just went….and it all worked out great in the end! We were planning to visit four different rock art sites along the way, but unfortunately we only found one of those four. We did, however, stumble across a new site that we were not expecting, which was very exciting!

Our first visit was to the Sunlight & Shadow Panel. This is a very unique Barrier Canyon Style Panel located high up on the canyon wall at the top of a very steep and loose talus pile. We climbed up and spent some time photographing the panels. The day was overcast, so we did not have any issues with one of the panels being in the sun while the other is in the shade.

Sunlight & Shadow Panel

Sunlight & Shadow Front Panel

Sunlight & Shadow Back Panel

Sheep with a Snakes Tongue

After visiting the Sunlight & Shadow Panel we went on and searched for the next three panels. Unfortunately, we had no luck finding any of them, and I now beleive we were completely in the wrong location to find them. I’ll have to return to the area when it cools off a bit and continue the search where I think they might be. After searching the canyon walls, climbing up and down steep talus slopes in search of the panels we were both getting a little frustrated and tired…..plus the on and off rain showers didn’t help any. Before heading back towards our vehicles, we decided to head down-canyon a little ways just to see how far we could go before it got too technical for us to continue. Along the way we continued to watch the canyon walls for signs of pictographs or petroglyphs. At one point the wash entered a small canyon where we couldn’t see the main canyon’s walls. Philippe decided he was going to climb up and take a look…at this point I had had enough climbing and decided to stay behind. A minute later he called for me……I almost didn’t go, but finally decided that I would make one final climb out. Once I reached the top of the smaller canyon…I was pleasantly suprised to catch a glimpse of some Barrier Canyon Style pictographs that I was not familiar with. This was not one of the panels we had been searching for…..this was something new. While photographing this site (I really wish I had dragged my long lens with me….I guess I’ll have to go back and revisit this site again in the fall), I did take notice that there was no footpath leading to this site, which are common for most rock art sites. I also noticed that there were no other footprints anywhere to be found, except for ours, which made me realize this was a special find.

I’ve decided to refer to this site The Unexpected Panel for two reasons. First, we were not searching for this panel…we were searching for other panels when we unexpectedly came across this one. Second, because this panel consists of a few different regional styles all in one place which is very unique and also unexpected.

Unexpected Panel

Rain Dance

Setting Circles Free

Lower Unexpected Panel

Over the Tree

My Favorite

When I arrived home from this weekend trip, I contacted a few of my friends who know a lot more about rock art and sites than I do. I figured they would recognize this panel and tell me what it was named. What I found out is that none of them had ever seen it before. Not even David Sucec, who is in charge of the Barrier Canyon Style Project and who probably knows the location of more Barrier Canyon Style sites than anyone else. While I am sure that we are not the first people to stumble across this beautiful pictograph site, it is pretty cool to find out you have come across something that probably very few people know about!