Mar 16 2011

Dry Fork – McConkie Ranch | Set 4

Saturday, March 12, 2011

 

Dry Fork | McConkie Ranch

More photos from our trip to the McConkie Ranch in Dry Fork on Saturday. Be sure to check out Set 1 , Set 2 and Set 3for more.

 

Head-Hunters
Head-Hunters

A panel with a few life-sized anthropomorphs and a trophy head with weeping eyes.

 

The Balloon
The Balloon

A small petroglyph panel with a shield figure and concentric circle designs.

 

Between the Cracks
Between the Cracks

Two small anthropomorphs along the Main Trail.

 

Find Them All
Find Them All

There are a number of petroglyph panels visible in this photo if you look closely. The most prominent one is a shield-like figure with wavy arms and hands.

 

Square Head
Square Head

More life-sized petroglyphs. The one on the right has a square head.

 

Gears
Gears

A couple concentric circles along the Three Kings Trail.

 

Layers
Layers

Geometric designs and other petroglyphs sandwiched between layers of stone.

 

Man-in-Circle
Man-in-Circle

A small anthropomorph surround by a large circle.

 

Waving Hands Panel
Waving Hands Panel

A petroglyph panel along the Three Kings Trail with some smaller figures. The largest figure in the middle appears to be waving both of his hands.

 

There’s a few more to go…..stay tuned…..


Mar 15 2011

Dry Fork – McConkie Ranch | Set 3

Saturday, March 12, 2011

 

Dry Fork | McConkie Ranch

Here are even more photos from our trip to the McConkie Ranch in Dry Fork on Saturday. Be sure to check out Set 1 and Set 2 for more.

 

Hula Hoop Man
Hula Hoop Man

I had visited this petroglyph panel earlier in the day when it was overcast and had taken a few photos, however once the clouds started to clear and the sun was shining again I revisited it to take a few more photos. I’m glad I did since I got a nice orange glow reflecting off of the rock, plus a nice blue sky with some white clouds in the background.

 

Family Portrait
Family Portrait

A wall filled with petroglyphs and pictoglyphs along the Main Trail.

 

Looking Up at the Gears
Looking Up at the Gears

Looking up at some small petroglyphs that Jackson thinks looks like gears along the Three Kings Trail.

 

Fading Partners
Fading Partners

Two life-sized anthropomorphs next to each other. The one on the left is barely visible anymore.

 

Fremont Shield
Fremont Shield

Looking up at a large shield petroglyph on a beautiful day in Dry Fork.

 

Bird Man
Bird Man

This life-sized anthropomorph appears to have feathers on it’s arms like a bird.

 

From the Lichen
From the Lichen

This faint anthropomorph seems to be emerging from the colorful lichen growing on the rock below it.

 

The Couple
The Couple

A closer look at the figured I have called ‘The Couple’ located along the Three Kings Trail.

 

Weeping Man
Weeping Man

Another of the many life-sized anthromorphic figures along the Main Trail. This one has the ‘weeping eyes’ and seems to be holding an object, perhaps a knife or other kind of weapon?

 

Don’t worry, there’s still more photos to go, so stay tuned…..


Mar 14 2011

Dry Fork – McConkie Ranch | Set 2

Saturday, March 12, 2011

 

Dry Fork | McConkie Ranch

Here are some more photos from our trip to the McConkie Ranch in Dry Fork on Saturday. Be sure to check out my first set of photos, too.

 

Above & Below
Above & Below

A close up of some shield-like petroglyphs along the Three Kings Trail. If you look on the sandstone below, you can find many more petroglyphs pecked into the darker stone.

 

Couple Through the Boulders
Couple Through the Boulders

A couple of petroglyphs I’ve called ‘The Couple’ coming into view through the boulders.

 

In Between
In Between

This anthropomorph along the Three Kings Trail is pecked into a dark colored sandstone which seems to be squeezed between a lighter sandstone and lichen covered stone.

 

Trophy Head
Trophy Head

A very stylized and lifesized petroglyph of an anthropomorph holding a trophy head with weeping eyes along the Main Trail.

 

Big-Foot
Big-Foot

Certainly one of the larger and most unique pictoglyphs along the Main Trail The very large feet really stick out the most, but so do the red and white horns sticking out from his head. Not to mention the trophy head to his right. Very interesting figure.

 

High Petroglyphs
High Petroglyphs

An interesting petroglyph panel located high in a cliff above the Three Kings Trail.

 

Broken Head Hunter
Broken Head Hunter

One of the many life-sized anthropomorphs along the Main Trail holding what appears to be a trophy head with weeping eyes. Based on the cracks through this panel, it may be lost when the stone finally gives way. The head could be lost a second time…

 

Elaborate
Elaborate

Two elaborately decorated petroglyphs along the Main Trail.

 

Still plenty more photos to go, so stay tuned for more!


Mar 13 2011

Dry Fork – McConkie Ranch | Set 1

Saturday, March 12, 2011

 

Dry Fork | McConkie Ranch

Finally! I have wanted to get up to Dry Fork and check out the petroglyphs and pictographs on the McConkie Ranch for a while, so on Saturday Amanda and I headed up there for the day. These rock art panels are located on private property north of Vernal, but the McConkie Ranch has created two trails to view the rock art and allows the public to access them. I’d like to thank the McConkie Ranch for allowing the public to access the rock art located on their property!

Here’s a few photos I took in no particular order. Enjoy!

 

Circles & Shields
Circles & Shields

Looking up at a couple of the many petroglyph panels along the Three Kings Trail. Most of the morning was completely overcast, but luckily as we were headed back to the trailhead the clouds started to clear and blue skies were visible.

 

Red Spiral
Red Spiral

A simple red spiral pictoglyph (petroglyph & pictograph) along the Main Trail.

 

Y-Man
Y-Man

One of the many large anthropomorphic figures alone the Three Kings Trail. I named this photo after the figure to the right that looks like the letter Y.

 

The Clock
The Clock

This petroglyph & pictograph kind of reminds me of a clock. Actually, the long hand pointing towards the three o’clock position looks like an atlatl hitting the bullseye.

 

The Twins
The Twins

The Twins are the last set of petroglyphs along the Main Trail.

 

Three Kings
Three Kings

The famous Three Kings Panel, also known as the Sun Carrier is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, it’s located pretty high and the trail does not get too close to it. Luckily I had my 100-400mm lens with me!

 

I’ve got plenty more photos to go through, and will be posting them as I have the time, so stay tuned for more!


Feb 23 2011

Snow Day in the Swell

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Bright and early Saturday morning, Amanda and I got up and headed west to the San Rafael Swell. We knew it was probably going to snow on us, but we didn’t realize just how much it was going to snow and for how long. We were meeting our friend Dave at the Rochester Creek Panel at 8:30am, and I gave us what I thought was plenty of time to get there. Unfortunately, once we reached the San Rafael Reef, we hit the snow. The interstate was covered, so driving was slower than I had planned. We finally made it to the Rochester Panel shortly after 9am, and I was expecting to find Dave waiting for us…..however he arrived about 20 minutes later because he got stuck driving slow in the snow much longer than we had, since he was coming from the Salt Lake area.

After he arrived we hiked over to the Rochester Panel in the snow. I pulled my camera out to take some photos and after a few minutes it was completely soaked, so I put it back away and didn’t really get any good photos there on this trip. When we returned back to the Jeep I grabbed my S90 and used that for the remainder of the trip 🙂

Snow Grill
Snow Grill

Our next stop was to visit the petroglyphs along the Moore Cutoff Road near the Molen Reef…

Our Jeeps

Snow Snake
Snow Snake

Petroglyph Boulder in the Snow

Snow Snake / High Contrast
Snow Snake / High Contrast

The Circle

This is an interesting petroglyph on a nearby boulder that we found.

Snake in a Snowstorm
Snake in a Snowstorm

The Molen Reef towers above the large snake petroglyph in the snowstorm.

After finishing up there we bashed through the snow up into Short Canyon and then hiked the rest of the way. The snow was about 5-6″ deep at this point and had not let up on us once. We got soaked, but it was still a lot of fun….especially scrambling up to the rock art 🙂

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