Hanksville, Utah

Temple Mountain Wash Pictograph panel is located in the San Rafael Swell in Goblin Valley.

Hollow Mountain gas station in Hanksville

That's where we are going Horseshoe Canyon.  Just 32 miles down a dirt road. 

Located in Utah’s southeastern desert, just outside of Canyonlands National Park, is Horseshoe Canyon. What makes this canyon worth seeing are the well-preserved pictographs and petroglyphs, which are the best preserved Barrier Canyon artworks in North America. In 1971, Horseshoe Canyon was added to the national park as a way to protect the history of these beautiful artwork collections.

 

Having fun in the sun

Horseshoe Canyon has a long line of history with artifacts dating back to 9000 BCE, when mammoth and other large mammals roamed the earth. Most of the canyon’s artwork is in the Barrier Canyon style, which dates back to 2000 BCE to 500 CE, when hunter-gatherers made this canyon their seasonal home. The canyon also features artwork created later by the Fremonts and ancestral Puebloans, but their time in the canyon was brief. The canyon was abandoned by 1300 CE.

Horseshoe Canyon has four distinct rock art panels along the sandstone rock walls that feature both pictographs and petroglyphs.

The panel with the largest collection of rock art is called, the “Great Gallery.” This panel is the most interracial Barrier Canyon style rock art in the U.S.

The “Great Gallery” measures 200-feet long and 15-feet with life-sized figures painted. The panel features 20 figures without legs or arms that are 7-feet tall. These figures are painted in rows and are surrounded by animals, birds and other unidentified figures. Over 80 images are painted on the rock wall. The life-sized artwork are painted red, white and brown, with some having great detail in them.

Holy Ghost panel within the Great Gallery wall

Too cute

OK bird watchers help us out.  What is this little green and yellow bird?

I think the gray burro was happy to see us.  He serenaded us for hours.

A steep descent of 780 feet at the beginning means a steep climb back up at the end of your hike.

We made it!

Our hike to the Great Gallery wall was 10 miles roundtrip, hiking on uneven terrain, over steep rocky areas and slogging through the sand on the canyon floor. We got it done in 5 1/2 hours and before it got too hot.

Here is where our real adventure begins.  Arriving at the trailhead this morning in complete darkness and very few signs, we somehow make the wrong turn leaving the trailhead.  After traveling quite some distance we start to wonder.  Since it was dark when we arrived we can't go by landmarks, the map we brought has where we were going not where we are, our hand held Garmin now has dead batteries, we didn't bring the road Garmin and the cell signal is iffy at best so Google is no help.  Our 1 1/2 hour drive turned into a 3 1/2 hour drive and an extra 50 miles of dirt roads.  This was the closest we have come to being lost but, you are never really lost as long as you have gas, water and the ability to keep your cool.  This is a portion of our track as provided by our Ham radio.  The lower track is our direct route there and the upper track is our extended scenic route.