Escalante River Adventure: Day 2 - Petroglyphs!!

The highlight of our trip, of course, was discovering the petroglyphs. We knew there were supposed to be some, somewhere along the trail, but we didn't know where. All we knew was that the Indians lived mostly on the North side of the river. So as we hiked, we searched the rock walls for the Indian art. At last, I spotted a goat etched into the rock! So we climbed up the bank and up the trail (keeping out of the poison ivy that was very prominent!) to take a closer look.


It was neat to think of the Indians hundreds of years ago living in the area, and think of all the people since then who have been through the canyon...this inscription "1882" was especially cool.

The second set of pictures we found were all along the walls of this huge arched overhang.




Looking for "ancient artifacts" in the crumbled rocks.


Some of them were colored in yellow and red.

These petroglyphs were weathered by the wind.

The kids had fun making up stories about the pictures...this one Spencer thought was a warrior.



This one I found in a small alcove I discovered when I went off the trail exploring the area for a campground. It was up and over a hill and through some cactus, which makes me think most people don't see this one. Aren't I special.