Moab off the beaten path

[Touchingstone]

We have been interested in the trove of prehistoric rock art in the Moab area. We have seen most of the easily accessible ones, like the Birthing Scene, the Moab Mastodon, the Big Bear, etc. Recently, we learned there is a magnificent panel of Archaic style pictographs called the Court House panel that is officially within the Arches National Park boundary, but it actually overlooks the main drag of town. (Pictures enhanced to show details)

Our stay happened to overlap with the Jeep Jamboree. Thousands of Jeepers descended on Moab for a week. We had fun visiting the Jeep exhibits and enjoyed the comradery, but the town was getting a little too crowded for us. Afterall, we came here for a peaceful quiet getaway. We decided to stray farther away.

So, we went to Green River and headed west to look for rock art.

Head of Sinbab & Big Snake

The 3-5,000-year old Buckhorn Draw pictographs are among the most magnificent Archaic rock art anywhere.

Doesn't it make you wonder what they saw or dreamed of to create these images?

Ignore the graffiti, intriguing juxtaposition of a strange petroglyph near a single dinosaur footprint. The figure has one human foot and one bird foot. Did they imagine the dino footprint was made by a half-man-half-bird being?

The 'Snake in Mouth' pictograph near Canyonland depicts shaman handing snakes. A rain cloud hovers over the shaman with rain pouring down. This Archaic pictograph could be several thousand years old. Could it be the origin of the Hopi Indian snake dance invoking rain? These are just a few of the amazing images we have seen, and we have barely touched the surface.

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[Omen]

Very, very cool! Thanks for sharing, I had no idea that there were such things there.

 

[wanderer]

It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve often wondered about pictographs
How did you go about finding him? Did you have a clue or was it totally random?

 

[AmericanPatriot100]

I’ve also wanted to find things like this out on the trail.

 

[RAD1]

Great post - thanks for sharing. Even though I live 2300 miles from Moab, this is one of the reasons I bought a Jeep - to be able to get off the beaten path to be able to see stuff like this. I need to start planning a road trip!

 

[moabman-OG]

What if all those are fake?

 

[YGBSM392]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Touchingstone]

It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve often wondered about pictographs
How did you go about finding him? Did you have a clue or was it totally random?

Years ago, there was little information on rock art locations, it was more or less by chance. These days, so much information is on the Internet, it is easy to find the better known sites. Some may say too easy. If you want to dig deeper into the subject, archaeologist Polly Schaafsma's books on Rock Art of the Southwest are invaluable.

 

[Touchingstone]

Great post - thanks for sharing. Even though I live 2300 miles from Moab, this is one of the reasons I bought a Jeep - to be able to get off the beaten path to be able to see stuff like this. I need to start planning a road trip!

Good idea! Be warned though, you may get hooked and spend all your vacations driving back and forth to the Southwest!

 

[Touchingstone]

Thanks for sharing!

You are most welcome!

 

[Touchingstone]

Very, very cool! Thanks for sharing, I had no idea that there were such things there.

Thanks! Glad you like it.

 

[HendersonJL]

Very cool!

A member of the Expedition Portal @YukonMontanaTannerTrapper has been travel the region since 2012 and has written a lot about this.


https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/my-journey.79245/page-368#post-3200372

 

[Jeeps2Little]

Like @Touchingstone said, there is so much info on the internet with gps coordinates, descriptions, etc that it almost makes it too easy. The longer the hike or walk the less likely you are to see other people or have them damaged. The best ones are the ones you find by accident though. The treasure hunt has become my wife's and my spring and fall passion in the Jeep.

 

[R4NS0M]

It seems like it would go without saying, but please don’t freaking carve your name into the rocks like these other idiots have done. It amazes me how many people are just straight up pieces of shit.

 

[FutureCorpse]

It seems like it would go without saying, but please don’t freaking carve your name into the rocks like these other idiots have done. It amazes me how many people are just straight up pieces of shit.

Or use ancient petroglyphs as shooting targets. Lame.

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