McDonald Creek & the Book Cliffs Rock Art
Sunday, August 21, 2011
I’ve been falling behind on my trip reports again, so I need to try and catch up! Here’s some photos I took on a local day-trip into McDonald Creek and the Book Cliffs. Of course I was searching for rock art 😉
First up was the nice hike down McDonald Creek to the Colorado River. I’ve hiked this canyon before, but realized that I missed some rock art on my previous trip. It was a good opportunity to re-photograph the sites I had visited previously, too.
A very small and easily missed set of pictographs.
These pictographs are located in a large alcove overlooking the Colorado River.
My favorite panel along McDonald Creek.
After finishing up the hike I headed north to the Book Cliffs to revisit a few more rock art sites and find two new ones. I ended up finding the two new panels that I had not been able to find before, plus I found a third site that I just happened to stumble upon.
This little guy welcomes you into the canyon.
I’m posting this photo because if you look very closely you can see a faint shield-like figure that appears to have legs. This is the second shield figure like that that I have found in the Book Cliffs, and they are very similar.
A busy panel high up on the canyon wall.
Handprints….most like Ute or Paiute.
A large horseback rider painted in a yellow pigment. Plenty of other figures and handprints painted here, too.
This shield figure sure looks like a baseball to me!
Ute or Paiute petroglyphs carved over Barrier Canyon Style pictographs.
A full view of the Barrier Canyon Style panel.
Three fading shields painted in a large alcove.
…and here we have the third shield-like figure like this that I have found in the Book Cliffs. This one is the best preserved, too. This is actually the pictograph I stumbled on accidentally while I was searching for another panel. A great accidental find!
I had searched for these pictographs previously without any luck, so it was great to actually find them this time. I have read that this scene may depict a birth.
A closer look at part of the above panel.
Before heading home I had to stop at the broken Robidoux Panel again.
The last new panel I found on this trip…..I can’t believe I missed this one before!