San Rafael Swell | Thompson Wash

This first group of pictures starts out in Clark Valley, between Wellington and Sunnyside, I really liked this old tattered flag on the fence of a small family cemetery. It speaks to me of hard times in an unforgiving landscape. The next couple of shots are from Black Dragon Canyon and then on up to Head of Sinbad in the San Rafael Swell. The Head of Sinbad pictographs show some of the best examples of Barrier Canyon style anywhere in the state of Utah.

A few miles East of Green River are the Thompson Wash panels, I like this site because it has three panels, each showing off different styles; Fremont, Barrier Canyon and a more modern style with figures on horseback. The town of Thompson is mostly deserted and the Desert Moon sign is in front of a deserted motel.

Sand Island

This next group of petroglyphs are all shot at the Sand Island site. Sand Island is just outside of Bluff and is a launch point for river runners doing a trip from Bluff to Mexican Hat or all the way to Lake Powell (good times) on the San Juan River. The petroglyphs are on a long wall that runs parallel to the river with a campground between the two. This site has an amazing array of figures, with many anthropomorphs, Desert Big Horn Sheep, animal track and more than a few Kokopelli. There is even a desert bighorn playing a flute in one of the panels. This area is now part of the new Bears Ears National Monument.

Cedar Mesa | Raplee Anticline | Lime Ridge

Some of the petroglyphs below are the reason for this trip; I stumbled onto them by accident about eight years ago and didn't have a camera with me. The whole point of this trip was to come back and capture these few images. It's a site with a large amount of animal track petroglyphs but the most intriguing petroglyph is one that appears to depict a couple having sex. They are in a seated position, and right next to them is a woman giving birth with a giant snake over her head. This unusual scene is separate from all of the other petroglyphs at the site. This area is now part of the new Bears Ears National Monument.

And last but not least I had to take some sunset scenics from the top of Lime Ridge looking at the incised course of the San Juan River, Monument Valley and the southern end of the Cedar Mesa. I also took a couple of shots from the Goosenecks State Park overlook just outside of Mexican Hat. Hanging out in the Bluff, Mexican Hat area, makes me long to be on a river trip. Maybe next year I'll get lucky enough to draw a permit.

Procession Panel

The petroglyph panel is called Procession Panel and reaching its location at the top of Comb Ridge was quite the undertaking for someone with a bum knee (but worth the effort). The panel is named after the procession of figures carved across it. There are 147 human figures marching across the panel and another 15 going down in the middle for a total of 162 figures and that's not counting the animal figures all over the panel. There are a couple of unusual things about this panel, 1) There are three figures that are holding what appear to be shepherds staffs (I've never seen that before). 2) A number of the marching figures are holding what appears to be flowers or plants of some sort, or torches, you can't really tell which. 3) There is a small alcove behind a large boulder, next to the procession, that has two very deep parallel grooves carved into the wall with nothing else around them (go figure). This area is now part of the new Bears Ears National Monument.

John's Canyon Road