For quite some time, my friend Billy Ward and I had been considering a trip focusing on the magnificent rock art sites found in the northeastern part of Utah.  And, for a number of years I had been considering attending the Crested Butte Mountain Conference in, you guessed it, Crested Butte, Colorado.  So we worked out an itinerary that accomplished both of these objectives and a number of minor objectives as well.  In general terms, I spent a week in Crested Butte before meeting up with Billy in Durango, Colorado.  We left my truck in Durango at my friend Trevor Bird’s Harley dealership and set out to explore some magnificent rock art sites!  I hope you enjoy following along on our adventures!

I was up early on Sunday morning and headed out to the La Cienguilla Petroglyph Site.  The site is located on BLM land not far from Santa Fe.  I spent several hours enjoying and exploring the site before making the beautiful drive up to Crested Butte.  It is a large and interesting site, with many nice panels.  I need to go back someday, as I am sure there is more to see on top of the mesa and in other areas than just the main portion of the site.  To see all of my photos from the Cienguilla Rock Art Site, look here.  It was a cool and crisp 55 degrees that evening when I arrived at Crested Butte and checked into my condo for the upcoming week of the conference.

I had an enjoyable week at the Crested Butte Mountain Conference.  I hiked daily, sometimes with a group from the conference, sometimes on my own.  I saw God’s beauty everywhere I looked —  beautiful waterfalls, beautiful wildflowers, and outstanding cool weather.  My condo was perfect, with a large indoor pool and heated jaccuzzi.  I also enjoyed the young olympic hopefuls who were housed there as they trained at high altitude.  I enjoyed daily meetings and workshops at the conference, and learned some things, especially about acceptance.  It was a week well spent!

Saturday, July 29, 2017, it was time to say goodbye to Crested Butte and head to Durango to meet up with Billy Ward.  It was less than a 200 mile drive, so I had time to stop for a short hike at The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and I hiked most of the Perimeter Trail in Ouray.  I also squeezed in a visit to the Ute Museum near Montrose.  I got to Durango and Billy and I went over to see my friend Trevor Bird at his Harley dealership.  We left my truck there and the next morning headed out to see some petroglyphs!

Sunday morning (July 30, 2017) Billy and I left Durango early and headed over to Mesa Verde National Park.  We enjoyed a nice hike to Petroglyph Point, which is near Cliff House.  We left the national park and headed toward Wellington, Utah, where we would be spending two nights while we explored Nine Mile Canyon.  On the way, we stopped off at the iconic rock art site in Sego Canyon.  What a wonderful site!  I hope you have time to view the Sego Canyon Gallery I have posted  — there is some really wonderful and interesting art in that canyon.  We also explored the abandoned historic structures near the rock art site.  By the time we got to Wellington were two tired old men!  But a steak and swim perked us right up!

We were up early on Monday (July 31, 2017) and headed into Nine Mile Canyon.  Nine Mile Canyon is actually almost sixty miles long.  The name comes from a map prepared by the John Wesley Powell expedition of 1872.  The canyon was the site of a nine-mile triangulation area used during a survey, and the survey maps were titled “Nine Mile Creek”.  We had a wonderful day of hiking, climbing, and searching for rock art.  We saw a lot, but I know there is still a lot we did not have time for.  Billy and I agreed we need to come back and spend a few days camping in the canyon on a future trip.  There are a few photos of Nine Mile Canyon below, but to see the full gallery look here. 

Tuesday morning (August 1, 2017) we drove two hours north to McConkie Ranch, a private ranch located outside of Vernal, Utah.  The family that owns the ranch has graciously allowed visitors for many, many years, and have been faithful stewards of the site.  The ranch and the rock art gained national attention in 1980 when National Geographic wrote an article about the site and gushed over the Three Kings Panel.  While we were there, Billy and I were fortunate enough to meet, and spend time with Jean McKenzie, the oldest daughter of Sadie McConkie, the original owner of the ranch.  Jean was born on the ranch and still lives there in a small home not far from the modest visitor center.  I saw her going out to her mail box so I hurried over to introduce myself and thank her for allowing us to see the art.  She most graciously invited Billy and I to see her private collection of artifacts, which she keeps locked up in a small building behind her home.  She also allowed us to climb down into a kiva that has been excavated near her house.  She was so interesting to talk to, and Billy and I enjoyed our time with her…thank you Jean!  The rock art was amazing.  There are two trails, the main trail, and the Three Kings Trail.  The Three Kings Panel was featured in the National Geographic article and, according to Jean, they changed the name of the big panel for the article!  For years they had called it something else, but the Nat Geo folks thought “Three Kings” would sell more magazines.  (I hope you have time to look at the full gallery from this site, which I have posted in the Rock Art Galleries portion of this website.)

We spent all day Wednesday (August 2, 2017) enjoying Dinosaur National Monument.  While about half of the monument is in Colorado, all of the sites we visited were on the Utah side.  We began by heading out Island Park Road to the McKee Springs Petroglyph site, which is about 12 miles off pavement and located just inside the western border of the monument.  What an amazing site!  The signature panel, known as “The Sun Catcher” is one of the finest works I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.  We also found another interesting panel about a mile from McKee Springs  — there is probably rock art to be found all around this area, which is not far from the Green River.  To see the full gallery of pictures from McKee Springs, click here. After spending time at McKee Springs, we went back out to Diamond Mountain Road then Jones Hole Road to the Jones Hole Trailhead.  The scenery along this drive was spectacular, as was our hike.  The Jones Hole trail follows Jones Creek as it flows into the Green River.  There is a very nice site called Deluge Shelter, which has an interesting assortment of pictographs and petroglyphs along the canyon wall.  There is also a nice little waterfall called Ely Falls that we stopped and took a break at.  I would highly recommend this hike!  To see the full gallery of pictures from Deluge Shelter, click here.  We next drove back to the Quarry Visitor Center on the west side of the monument and made our way to the Swelter Shelter site and the petroglyph sites on Cub Creek Road out toward Josie Morris Cabin.  We had a lot of fun climbing around and boulder hopping looking for the rock art. To see the full gallery of pictures from Cub Creek Road, look here.  A small gallery from Swelter Shelter can be seen here.

After our visit to Dinosaur National Monument, it was time to head home.  The next morning (Thursday, August 3, 2017) we headed south from the monument to Rangely, Colorado, where we stopped and explored three small sites along the Rangely Rock Art Tour (Mellen Hill, Fremont Ridge, and the Shield Site).  There are a number of sites in the area and in Canyon Pintado, but we were ready to get back to Durango and pick up my truck and head on home.  For a full gallery of my pictures from Rangely, look here.  We did decide, however, that we would stop at Chaco Canyon (Chaco Culture National Historical Park) on the way home to cross another item off our bucket list…The Supernova Pictograph.  And that is exactly what we did!  To see the full gallery of photos I took in Chaco Canyon that day, click here. 

This truly was a rock art trip to remember.  Perfect weather, iconic sites, and interesting people were the norm, and it made for a wonderful trip.  As I reflect back on our travels, my heart fills with gratitude.  I am so grateful to have a friend who is physically able to enjoy the challenges of these types of trips, and that we are emotionally compatible enough that we don’t kill each other in the process.  I am also grateful for the people who work so hard to keep our national parks and monuments open and suitable for visits from us amateurs.  I am grateful for people like our newfound friend Jean McKenzie, who, along with her mother, have protected, and shared, the magnificent cultural landscape of McConkie Ranch over these many years.  God Bless you ladies!  And I am grateful for those who might read these words.  I hope they inform, and perhaps even inspire you to get out and explore and enjoy the beauty laid before us!  Thanks for taking the time to give my blog a look!  Tom McCoppin

The highlight of this trip for me was the time Billy and I spent with Jean McKenzie.  She is such a generous and humble person, and her stories about her mom and growing up on McConkie ranch were fascinating and delightful.  When I got home I felt compelled to send her a note of thanks, not just for the hospitality she showed us, but for her tireless efforts to protect and share the cultural resources on her ranch.  Along with the note, I sent her a nice shawl made of baby alpaca that I had brought back from Cusco, Peru a few months earlier.  A short time later, I received the note below from Jean, and it made my day!  God Bless you and keep you Jean!