IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Day 2: Pictograph Fork & The Harvest Scene

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Our second day started out cold with plenty of wind. None of us slept very well since the wind was noisy all night. After some breakfast we bundled up and started our hike down Pictograph Fork to check out the Harvest Scene pictographs.

Hiking Pictograph Fork

If you look closely you can see Dave and Jared in the canyon ahead of me as we hike towards Pictograph Fork.

Along the way we stopped at a petroglyph panel.

Pictograph Fork Petroglyphs

Pictograph Fork Anthropomorphs

Then we continued on until we reached the Harvest Scene, which was one of my main reasons for going to The Maze this trip.

Near the Harvest Scene

The canyon near The Harvest Scene Panel.

The sun was shining on the panel and washing it out pretty good, but luckily there were a few puffy clouds in the sky that blocked the sun for a few minutes at a time so that I could try and take some decent photos of the panel.

Harvest Scene Panel

An overview of the Harvest Scene Pictograph Panel.

The Harvest Scene

A closer look at the part of the panel that gives it the name ‘Harvest Scene’.

Tall, Skinny, & Elaborate

These figures found on the left side of the panel are very elaborately decorated.

Continue reading

Day 0: Change of Plans?

Friday, April 8, 2011

As you might have seen in this post before I left for this trip, there was some real concern about the government shutting down and closing Canyonlands National Park. The night before I was set to leave, I stayed up to see what was going to happen in Washington. Luckily, at the last minute they figured out the budget and averted a shutdown. Of course, my time would have been better spent sleeping, but at least we did not have to make any last minute changes to our plans and we would still be able to explore The Maze District of Canyonlands for a few days.

Day 1: Into the Maze

Saturday, April 9, 2011

After staying up later than I would have liked on Friday night, I was up again at 3am on Saturday morning so that I could finish getting ready and head straight to Hanksville to meet up with Jared. I had hoped to grab a quick breakfast on the way, but apparently the McDonalds on my way out of Grand Junction isn’t open 24 hours like I thought….and neither is the one in Fruita. I also found out that the Burger King in Green River doesn’t open at 5am like I had hoped….

I met up with Jared at the Hollow Mountain in Hanksville and we transferred his camping gear into my Jeep. Then I followed him south to the Poison Springs Road so he could find a spot to park his car for the next few days. Since it didn’t take us as long as we planned, I still had time to get some breakfast at Blondie’s before meeting up with Dave.

We met Dave at 8am at the turnoff to the Hans Flat Road and took off towards the ranger station to go get our camping permits. We ended up picking up our permits less than an hour after leaving the highway and then started our descent into The Maze. It snowed on and off on our drive down the Flint Trail and on our way around Teapot Rock. The snow wasn’t sticking to the ground and wasn’t falling enough to make the road slippery.

This photo was taken by Dave of Jared and I checking to make sure no one was coming up the Flint Trail in the snow.

Four hours after leaving the ranger station we arrived at Chimney Rock; our camp for the next two nights. It was pretty windy as we setup camp, and both Jared and Dave had brand new tents they had not used before…Jared had a few issues but managed to get it setup.

Chimney Rock & Tree

Chimney Rock from near our campsite.

Setting Up Camp

Jared trying to setup his brand new tent.

Chimney Rock Camp

Part of our campsite.

Once camp was setup we hiked over to take in the views over nearby Water Canyon and Jasper Canyon. We hiked along the rims for a ways and watched the sun go down.

Overlooking

Jared and Dave overlooking Water Canyon.

Small Arch

A small arch we spotted on the rim of Water Canyon.

Rim Hiking

Jared and Dave hiking towards Jasper Canyon.

Jasper Canyon

A view over Jasper Canyon.

Jared and the Maze

Jared overlooking the Maze.

Cloudy Maze Sunset

A view over The Maze at sunset.

Clouds, Sky, Tree & Sandstone

A small tree growing out of the sandstone at sunset.

My Shadow

My long shadow close to sunset.

Island Over the Maze

Island in the Sky lit up in the distance.

Chimney & Ekker

Chimney Rock and Ekker Butte at sunset.

There was plenty of wind, snow and even more wind that evening! The weather certainly could have been better, but it still turned out to be a nice first day to start our trip.

Day 2 to be continued…

Saturday & Sunday, April 2-3, 2011

This last weekend I was invited to go camping near Green River with some friends from the Salt Lake area, so I decided to get out and take my first camping trip of the year since it has finally started to warm up a bit. On my way to meet up with them Saturday morning, I took a quick detour into the Book Cliffs to continue searching for the pictograph I had started to look for the previous weekend but had run out of time. Lucky for me, I was able to find it this time.

Book Cliffs Owl

Perched Owl

While out searching for the owl, I also came across this pictograph on a large boulder in the same canyon.

Horned Shield

After the quick detour I continued on and met up with my friends off of the Ruby Ranch Road. I quickly setup camp and then we were off. They wanted to check out the Hidden Canyon area, so I led the way and we completed most of the 3D Trail. Along the way we stopped at the Tusher Tunnel, where I spent a little time searching for some rock art I heard might be near. I didn’t find the petroglyph I had seen a photo of, but I did find a faint Barrier Canyon Style pictograph near the exit of the tunnel. Unfortunately, many idiots feel the need to write their graffiti all over the sandstone near the tunnel and have over-written the pictograph.

Vandalized at Tusher Tunnel

If you look closely at the above photo you can see a bunch of faded red dots that appear to have decorated the torso of the large figure.

After finishing up the 3D Trail by visiting the Hidden Valley Overlook and Bartlett Overlook, we looped back to camp around Tombstone Rock and across Ten Mile Wash. It was still a bit early, so I took off on my own to find some ‘bubbling springs’ that my friend Marty had told me about. They were about 6 miles from our camp, and I had no trouble locating them.

The highly mineralized water of the first bubbling spring created a colorful lightning bolt on the ground in the wash.

Bubbling Spring

Liquid Lightning

The following photo shows the scenery near the second bubbling spring I came across. This one wasn’t quite as photogenic as the first, but the surrounding landscape shows that this wash has really earned it’s name: Salt Wash

Winter Wonderland

After some dinner back at camp, we had a little fun with some firearms before it got dark out. I got to fire my first fully-automatic weapon…..it was fun 🙂 Here’s a short video my friend Ryan made from the evening…

While the temperature all night never dropped below 50 degrees, which was nice, the wind blew hard all night! I didn’t sleep very well, as the went kept making a lot of noise. I ended up getting out of my tent around 7am and noticed a large dark storm cloud rolling in, so I quickly broke down camp so I didn’t have to do it in the rain. After talking with my friends and watching the weather, they decided to call it a day and start heading back up to SLC after breakfast. I was just about to head home, too, when I decided at the last minute to head towards Green River and search for a few petroglyph panels in Gray Canyon.

My first stop was the Nefertiti Petroglyph Panel near Nefertiti Rock along the Green River.

Nefertiti Elk

Nefertiti Petroglyphs

Next I found the petroglyphs near the Price River Junction. By the time I reached them, the sky had cleared up a little bit and I could see blue!

Price River Junction Petroglyphs

Price River Anthropomorph

The Mailbox

Then I headed back to Green River to top off my gas tank before heading home. Even though the wind sucked, I still managed to have a good weekend camping with some friends.

Here we have my selection for my March photo of the month.

The Serpent

Face to face with the Solstice Snake. I took many photos of petroglyphs and pictographs this month and had a hard time choosing the winner. In the end I just had to go with a photo of the Solstice Snake because I had been searching for this one for a while and it was a great adventure finally finding it. I like the perspective of this photo, putting you right in the face of the serpent, even though it’s hard to get a scale of just how large this petroglyph really is.

Here here are the runners up…

Behold! The Comet

The Couple

Saturday, March 26, 2011

On Saturday, Jackson and I headed into Utah so that I could check on a geocache I hid last summer. After checking on the cache, we hiked around the rim of the canyon nearby.

Wavy Sandstone

After some more hiking around and on Jug Rock, we headed north to the Book Cliffs in search of some petroglyphs….specifically The Butterfly, or bat, petroglyph. I had an idea on where it was located, but not an exact location. We searched the area for a little bit and managed to find it.

The Butterfly

After finding The Butterfly, we searched the nearby boulders and found a bunch of other petroglyphs.

Book Cliff Boulder

There was a small crack between two large boulders that I squeezed into, and inside there were a bunch of petroglyphs…

In the Crack

Sheep in the Crack

Another Hand

Lichen & Faint Spiral

Another look at a boulder with many petroglyphs on it….

Book Cliff Boulder 2

When we were done searching the area I took Jackson over to the Sego Rock Art Site, since he had never been there. I’ve been here numerous times before, but not since I got my new camera, so I took a few photos while we were there.

Sego Canyon Pictographs

Sego Snake Man

We searched the area and managed to find a petroglyph of a sheep I had not seen before.

Sego Sheep

Sego Snake

Fremont petroglyphs over faint Barrier Canyon Style pictographs. Look closely above the petroglyphs…

Fremont Over Barrier

Sego Ute Shield

We had plans to find some more pictographs, and I headed to the area they were supposed to be in…..unfortunately, I took the long way and by the time we got there we had run out of time and had to head home. I know I will be returning to the Book Cliffs in search of more rock art this year 🙂