Billy and I had made tentative plans to return to Nine Mile Canyon in March of 2018 to camp and thoroughly explore that beautiful canyon.  Billy had a change in plans, so I set about to develop an itinerary for a trip on my own.  As I thought about places I wanted to visit, I realized I had a large number of  iconic sites that I had never found time to visit, and that no self-respecting rock art aficionado would overlook these sites.  High on that list were Horseshoe Canyon, Rochester, Natural Bridges sites, and Canyon De Chelly.  While in the process of planning my trip, I got an email from the folks at the Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA) inviting me to a two-day outing in the Kanab, Utah area on March 15 and 16, 2018.  I r.s.v.p.-ed for that outing and decided to make those dates the cornerstone of the front end of my trip.  The trip turned out great!  I met some very interesting folks along the way, and experienced some outstanding rock art.  I hope you enjoy my memories from the trip…

I left my home at Lake McQueeney early on the morning of Tuesday, March 13, 2018.  I spent the day driving and ended up spending the night in Gallup, New Mexico.  I got up early Wednesday morning and headed north towards Canyon De Chelly National Monument on the Navajo Reservation.  On the way, I stopped at Window Rock (the seat of the Navajo Nation government), just as the sun was coming up, and at the historic Hubbell Trading Post.

I first heard of Canyon De Chelly from my Utah friend, Vaughn Hadenfeldt.  We were camping in Slickhorn Canyon, and, one night around the campfire, he told me stories of the canyon.  Many years before, he had guided hikes in Canyon De Chelly but I gathered that, at some point, the Indians quit letting non-tribe members guide visitors in the canyon.  Anyway, I was excited to visit this place.  I knew from my research that there was only one trail you could hike without a guide (the White House Ruins Trail), so I planned to do that hike and drive along the canyon rim to view some of the ruins from viewpoints along the drive.  When I got to the area, I stopped in at the visitor’s center before heading to the White House Ruin trail-head.  I had a nice hike that morning.  The trail is interesting in its own right, passing through a couple of tunnels to reach the canyon floor.  Along the way, I met an older Navajo man named Frederick T. Henry, and we walked together for the last part of the trail.  Frederick told me he was born and raised in the canyon, and pointed out the hogan built by his grandfather (it can be seen after emerging from the second tunnel).  Frederick makes jewelry, and sells it in an area for Navajo artisans down by the ruins.  After I had walked down to the White House Ruins and took some photos, I stopped by and visited with Frederick at the table where he displays and sells his jewelry.  He proudly showed me pictures of his mother (on page 96) and his sister (on page 99) that Ansel Adams took many years before when he visited the canyon (he had a book entitled Ansel Adams, by Barry Pritzker, that contained these pictures).  On his first visit to the canyon in 1937, Adams wrote his wife Virginia “The Canyon de Chelly exceeds anything I have imagined at any time!”  I really enjoyed the White House ruins and my visit with Frederick Henry.  I purchased a piece of jewelry from him before I hiked back up the trail out of the canyon.  Click here to see a page that I think is about his son or perhaps his nephew. 

After my hike to White House Ruins, I drove further out South Rim Drive to the Spider Rock overlook.  What a majestic rock spire!  I then went to the North Rim Drive and hiked to viewpoints at the Antelope House, Massacre Cave, and Mummy Cave overlooks.  I hope some day to return to Canyon De Chelly and spend a couple of days with a knowledgeable Navajo guide —  I am sure there are many cultural treasures to enjoy in that beautiful canyon!  To see the gallery of photographs of the rock art I saw in the canyon, look here.  Before leaving the park, I got a recommendation on where to get Navajo fry bread, then stopped there on my way out.  I then drove to Kanab, Utah, where I spent the next couple of nights.

I met with my Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA) group at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 15, 2018, in Kanab.  Our small group set out to explore some of the beautiful rock art sites in the area.  We headed east out of Kanab on Highway 89, then due south toward the Arizona state line on House Rock Valley Road.  Our first stop was the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead.  We hiked east for about a mile and, just past “the notch”, on our left,  we came to our first panel, a small late Archaic Glen Canyon Linear Site.  A short hike further into Buckskin Gulch found us standing before two very interesting Anasazi-era petroglyph panels, located high up on the canyon wall.  To see my full gallery of photos from Buckskin Gulch, look here. 

We hiked back to the Buckskin Gulch trailhead and were greeted with the sight of three magnificent Condors flying overhead.  Our guide said that, each fall, Condors are released at the Marble Canyon Lodge (located in the general area of the region we were exploring) in an attempt to reintroduce them to the area.

We continued south on House Rock Valley Road to the trailhead for the Maze site.  We passed the trailhead for the very popular “Wave” hike, as well as the Arizona state line.  The Maze site now has a designated parking area and a designated trail to the site.  Apparently, the braided trails leading to the site were doing damage to archaeological sites (pit houses) near the petroglyph panel, so the State of Arizona decided to build a parking area and a trail in an effort to better preserve the area.  I had seen pictures of the Maze Petroglyph site and was very excited to experience it in person.  It did not disappoint!  To see my full gallery of photos of the Maze Site, look here.  As we spent a couple of hours at the site, the weather began to decline and a light rain started to fall.  On the drive out, the road conditions became treacherous and we encountered several vehicles that could not negotiate the slick road without four wheel drive.  After we finally made it back to pavement (Highway 89), it appeared that the weather was going to continue to get worse, so we stopped at the Catstair Canyon Site, which was located very near the paved highway.  We spent about an hour at the site and called it a day.  To see the full gallery of photos from Catstair Canyon, look here. 

The next morning (Friday, March 16, 2018) our small group headed north out of Kanab and drove toward the West Fork of Indian Canyon.  As we gained elevation, it was apparent that it had snowed the night before, and, by the time we reached the trailhead for the canyon, we were in a winter wonderland —  it was beautiful!  The contrast between the white snow and the colorful sandstone of the canyon was breathtaking.  We had to be careful on the hike to the cave containing the rock art because there were several inches of snow on the ground and the trail.  The rock art was magnificent  — the whole back wall of the cave was covered with beautiful and interesting pictographs.  I am so glad I got to experience this site, especially on this snowy day!  To see my full gallery of photos from this site, look here.

After spending several hours at the West Fork of Indian Canyon, we headed southwest toward Colorado City and stopped at a petroglyph site in Rosy Canyon.  (To see my fully gallery of photos from Rosy Canyon, look here.) We explored the site and had lunch, then headed south toward Pauite Cave.  After about ten miles on a dirt road, we started to notice standing water and before we knew it, we were stuck.  Took us a while to get unstuck, but once we did, we decided to turn around and head for Kanab.  It was about 3:00 p.m. when I left the group, so I decided to make use of the remaining daylight to hike to the Mansard Petroglyph site.  It took me much longer than I expected to hike up to the alcove that contains the site, but I made it up there in time to spend about 45 minutes exploring.  To see my full gallery of photos from the Mansard site, look here. I headed south to Page, Arizona, where I spent the night.  I enjoyed a beautiful sunset, just as I crossed the Glen Canyon Dam…

I left Page, Arizona early on the morning of Saturday, March 17, 2018, headed for Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.  Along the way, I took time for a quick detour to Navajo National Monument and a short hike to the Betakin Ruin overlook.  Some day, I would like to make the overnight hike to Keet Seel, but it was not open this early in the season.  I also stopped to look at the Navajo Code Talker Exhibit located inside the Burger King in Kayenta, Arizona.  A descendant of one of the WW II Navajo Code Talkers owns that Burger King, and he put up an exhibit there to honor his relative.  After that, I headed north through Monument Valley and Mexican Hat toward the Natural Bridges monument.

I arrived at Natural Bridges National Monument about 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.  I stopped by the Ranger Station and was assigned campsite #6.  The ranger also cautioned that bad weather, including snow, was supposed to move into the area around 5:00 p.m.  The weather looked fine, so I dropped off a couple of items at my campsite and headed to the Sipapu Bridge Trail and began hiking down into the canyon shortly before 3:00 p.m.  Turns out, the ranger was wrong about the weather —  when I climbed out shortly before dark, it was still clear.  I headed down canyon from Sipapu Bridge and stopped at the Many Hands site and climbed up to the Horsecollar Ruin.  To see my full gallery of photographs from Many Hands, look here.  It was a great afternoon hike and I thoroughly enjoyed the two sites I visited in the canyon that afternoon.  My GPS said I covered at total of 9.43 miles during my hike.

I was excited to wake up on the morning of Sunday, March 18, 2018.  My plan was to explore the area around Kachina Bridge and to locate Ruin Rock, which I believed was between Kachina Bridge and the Horsecollar Ruin.  But when I looked outside, it was still snowing and there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground.  I got in the cab of my truck and turned on the heat (it was cold!) and read for a while to kill time until the park headquarters opened at 8:00 a.m.  I walked down to the park headquarters, and they advised that there was an 80% chance of snow throughout the day.  I asked if it was OK to hike anyway and they said yes, but they strongly advised against it due to icy conditions on the trail.  I also asked them if they could give me a hint about how to find Ruin Rock.  As I expected, they acted like they had never heard of it!  Since they had been wrong about the weather the day before, I decided to suit up and head to the Kachina Bridge trailhead.  When I left my campsite, the temperature was 32 degrees.  After the short drive to the trailhead, the temperature had dropped to 27 degrees and it was snowing and windy.  I walked over to the trail and realized there was indeed a thick coating of ice on the trail, making it virtually impassable.  So I decided to drive into Blanding and get a room for the night so I could at least stay warm.  The drive to Blanding was a little dicey (especially the pass at 7,000 feet where the roads had not been plowed) but I eventually made it, and checked into the Stone Lizard Lodge.  I walked to the bowling alley for supper, and spent the evening in my cozy room, reading and watching TV.

I woke up early Monday morning (March 19, 2018) at the Stone Lizard Lodge in Blanding and drove to Natural Bridges.  My goal for the day was to explore the ruins and rock art around Kachina Bridge and to find Ruin Rock.  I hiked down to Kachina Bridge and spent about two hours exploring and taking photos.  To see the full gallery of photos from the Kachina Bridge sites, look here.  I then began hiking up-canyon (toward Horsecollar Ruin), looking for Ruin Rock.  After spending several hours hiking up several ledges, I was getting discouraged.  I did find a very small granary, and, when I climbed up to it, I could see a nice rock art panel across on the other side of the canyon.  So, I hiked over there and spent a little time enjoying and photographing the panel, which I decided to call the “White Shields Panel”.  To see the full gallery of photos I took at The White Shields Site, look here.  I hiked all the way to Horsecollar without finding Ruin Rock.  But on the hike back to Kachina Bridge, I realized I had assumed Ruin Rock would be accessed from the canyon floor, and that this assumption was not valid.  I remembered Randy Langstrat making mention of “potholes filled”with water near Ruin Rock on his blog.  Then it hit me — access was from an upper ledge, not the canyon floor!  Anyway, I figured it out, and eventually found Ruin Rock.  Basically, I was able to locate it with my binoculars about half way up the Kachina Trail, then walked a ledge over to it and up-climbed up to the site.  I was so very proud of myself for finding Ruin Rock!  It had three sets of ruins, one with an almost perfectly intact roof.  And the rock art panel was magnificent.  My GPS said I covered 17.31 miles that day, with 7 hours and 25 minutes of moving time —  I was one tired, old man at the end of that day!  To see my full gallery of photos from ruin rock, as well as directions to the site, look here.

I got up early on Tuesday morning, March 20, 2019 and broke camp.  My goal was to find the White Man Site upstream from Sipapu Bridge, then drive up to Horseshoe Canyon later that afternoon.  I was on the Sipapu Trail at 7:30 a.m. and made it to the White Man Site about two hours later.  What a great site!  There were amazing pictographs by the main ruin, and the ruin itself was a delight to explore.  On a higher ledge to the right of the main ruin (the up-climb to this ledge was quite a challenge for me, but I made it!), I found more ruins and some very old-looking petroglyphs.  I know that there are more ruins further upstream, but I didn’t have time to go any further  — a good excuse to come back!  (While on that subject, I still need to find the rock art panel near “The Shoe” and “The BigFoot Ruin”!).  I was on the road headed north toward Horseshoe Canyon shortly after noon.  To see my full gallery of photos from the magnificent White Man Site, look here.

I enjoyed the drive north on Highway 95 out of Natural Bridges and the Bears Ears.  The highway is quite scenic, with beautiful views around every corner.  The Colorado River crossing was especially nice.  I stopped at Hog Springs and hiked over to the huge alcove that is home to a pictograph called “The Moqui Queen” — another stunning rock art panel that I enjoyed very much.  To see my complete photo gallery of the Moqui Queen site, look here.  My plan was to drive all the way to Horseshoe Canyon and camp at the trailhead.  But I was extremely tired, and decided to get a room in Hanksville for the night and have a nice supper, which is exactly what I did!

For a number of years, I had been telling myself that I needed to visit Horseshoe Canyon.  Today, Wednesday, March 21, 2018 was the day I fulfilled that promise to myself.  The Canyon contains four major rock art panels, done in the “Barrier Canyon Style” during the late Archaic Period (2000 BCE to 500 CE ).  Many consider the largest of the panels, known as “The Great Gallery”, the penultimate rock art panel in North America.  I was on the trail down into the canyon a little before 8:30 a.m.  Kent Williams, a fellow URARA member was serving as a site steward for the week, and I hiked the first part of the trail with him.  Park personnel were conducting a roundup of wild burros in the canyon and Kent headed off to meet them and left me to do my exploring.  I first visited the petroglyph site across the canyon from “The High Gallery”, then set up my tripod and zoom to photograph the High Gallery, which is indeed very high up on the canyon wall.  To see the photo gallery of the petroglyphs, look here.  To see the full gallery of my photos from The High Gallery, look here.  I headed down the canyon to the next major site, known as”The Horseshoe Gallery”.  This gallery had some very interesting and well executed pictographs.  To see the full gallery of pictures from The Horseshoe Gallery, look here.  My next stop was a small alcove that contains hand-prints and grinding stones.  To see the gallery  from the Handprint Alcove, look here.   Next up was the third major gallery, called “The Alcove Gallery”.  Of the four major galleries, this was the least impressive, but still amazing in its own right.  I dropped my pack at the Alcove Gallery and left it on top of a boulder.  When I returned, I found that a rodent of some sort had chewed his way into my pack and helped himself to some of my trail mix!  The full gallery of photos from the Alcove Gallery can be seen here.  The final leg of the hike to the Great Gallery was the longest part of the hike.  The only thing of interest was a dinosaur print on the floor of the canyon.  The Great Gallery was magnificent, and I spent several hours there, soaking in the beauty and the ambiance of this sacred place.  I set up my tripod and took WAY too many photos. To see the full gallery from the Great Gallery site, look here.  I was back at my truck by 4:00 p.m., and my GPS said I had covered 9.26 miles on my hike into the canyon.  I hope you will take time to look at the Horseshoe Canyon Galleries I have posted on this site by clicking on the links above — they will give you a much better idea of how stunning the art in this canyon is, compared to the few photos I have posted below on this blog.

From Horseshoe Canyon, I drove over to the Temple Mountain site, then on to the Eye of Sinbad site.  Both were interesting and well worth the effort.  By now, it was dark (I actually had some trouble finding my way back to IH-70 from the Eye of Sinbad) so I began looking for a gas station and a place to spend the night.  I never found a gas station, but finally ended up at Millsite State Park outside of Ferron, Utah.  Unbeknownst to me, the park was actually closed, as they were doing work on the dam and the park.  I slept like a baby, cloaked in my ignorance, but was so surprised when I woke up the next morning to the sound of workmen and heavy equipment!

Winding Down With a Couple of Days in Moab…

I awoke the morning of Friday, March 23, 2018, very happy to be in Moab, Utah.  First up, I took my truck to the local Ford dealer for service, and went next door and had a great breakfast.  It had rained very hard early that morning, so I figured I should give the roads I wanted to travel some time to dry out.  So, I spent some time seeing the sights in Moab.  I visited the Back of Beyond Bookstore (highly recommended by one of my URARA friends) and bought an autographed copy of The Fool’s Progress by Edward Abbey.  I also did a little shopping and bought Dot a T-shirt and a couple of rock art coffee mugs.  I headed for Seven Mile Canyon shortly before noon.  I hiked up to the “Snake in The Mouth” site.  My GPS said it was 2 miles, but it seemed a lot longer than that, and the climb up was not easy for this old man.  But, what a great little site!  I hiked up Seven Mile Canyon and finally found the Kokopelli Site.  It looked like a storm was blowing in, so I headed back to the trailhead.  I walked over and visited the Sheep Site and Intestine Man.  By that time, the storm looked like it would pass us by, so I headed to the Bartlett Site.  I headed back into town and stopped to hike up to the Courthouse Wash Panel.  I finished my day by visiting Birthing Rock.  It was a good day!

One Last Day Exploring the Canyons of Indian Creek…

I spent the last day of my trip (Saturday, March 24, 2018) exploring along the Indian Creek Scenic Byway (State Hwy. 211) outside of Canyonlands National Park.  My first stop was at Newspaper Rock  —  I never miss an opportunity to see this amazing rock art panel.  I spent the next several hours hiking Shay Canyon, Hog Canyon, and any place along the road that looked promising.  I found a really neat panel near mile post 4, and I was happy to finally see the iconic “Fighting Man Panel”.  I drove out to Davis Canyon Road, but the road condition was bad, very wet and rough, so I decided to call it a trip and head home, stopping for the night in Cuba, New Mexico, staying at, where else, the Frontier Motel (the place where I cut off part of my left index finger a few years ago!).

Epilogue…

I left Cuba, New Mexico, on the morning of Sunday March 25 and drove the rest of the way home without any problems.  Looking back on this trip, I am very grateful for the people I got to meet, and for the wonderful places that I was fortunate to experience.  I did indeed fill in a lot of gaps, visiting places that had been on my radar for a long time.  I hope you have time to look at the full galleries of the places I visited on this trip; they are truly amazing and special places!

Tom McCoppin, June 22, 2019