Nine Mile Canyon | Set 1

May 14-15, 2011

I’ve wanted to get back to Nine Mile Canyon for quite a while. The last time I was there was in 2007 and I kind of rushed through the canyon on my way elsewhere, so I missed a lot. I had wanted to go to Nine Mile Canyon back in November or December, but the weather prevented me from doing so. Then I planned on going in March, but that never worked out either. Finally, this weekend Amanda and I were able to spend the weekend there searching out many panels of rock art!

We left bright and early on Saturday morning and made a quick stop in Wellington to top off my fuel tank before making our way into the canyon. Our first stop was at the Nine Mile Ranch so that we could setup camp before starting our search. After leaving the ranch we spent the rest of Saturday and much of Sunday searching the canyon for rock art and taking many photos. Unfortunately, many of the rock art panels are located on private property and you can only take photos from the road. Luckily I had my 100-400mm lens with me, so I was able to get decent photos of most of the panels we found. We managed to find well over 50 different rock art sites, many which contained multiple panels….and I’m sure there are a ton more that we missed. I’m looking forward to getting back and finding many more in the future!

Since I took so many photos on this trip, I’m going to break this report up into a few sections with plenty of pictures…so enjoy! I’ll try to keep them in the order I took them.

Long-Necked Sheep Panel
Long-Necked Sheep Panel

An overview of the Long-Necked Sheep Panel.

 

Long-Necked Sheep
Long-Necked Sheep

A close-up look at the Long-Necked Sheep….a very interesting petroglyph.

 

Ladder Man
Ladder Man

An interesting anthromorph that is part of the Long-Necked Sheep Panel.

 

Another Long-Necked Sheep
Another Long-Necked Sheep

The right side of the panel with another long-necked sheep.

 

Cheer Leaders
Cheer Leaders

These figures remind me of cheer leaders….though they are probably holding shields.

 

Leading A Horse to Water
Leading A Horse to Water

A man leading a horse with a rider.

 

Colorful Faded Figure
Colorful Faded Figure

Located alone on a boulder near the balanced rock, this anthropomorph is fading away but on a colorful section of the rock.

 

Another Hunting Scene
Another Hunting Scene

Hunting scenes are common in petroglyphs, this one has a figure with a bow and arrow in the middle.

 

Decorated Torsos
Decorated Torsos

A line of decorated pictographs.

 

Staring Sheep
Staring Sheep

More photos to come…