The Garden Canyon Pictograph Sites

Dorothy and I spent Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at Fort Huachuca in southeastern Arizona visiting the two pictographs sites found on the fort in Garden Canyon.  It was a fun day and Garden Canyon was beautiful.  The two pictograph sites are not large, nor particularly impressive, but are interesting and were well worth the visit (and the hassle of gaining entry onto the fort property).  For details of our visit, see my blog post here.  Below you will find galleries for each of the two sites found in Garden Canyon.  I hope you enjoy my photos!

Site 1, signed as “The Garden Canyon Pictograph Site”

This is the first site you come to as you drive up Garden Canyon.  There is a signed trailhead and the site is reached by crossing a small footbridge and making a short climb.  The site is not large, and is fenced.  The signage gave this information about the site:

“The Garden Canyon Pictograph site consists of 53 elements painted on the roof an vertical face of the rock shelter.  The prehistoric pictographs, painted primarily in red, date circa A.D. 1300, and were probably made by a number of individual people over a long period of time.  The primary artists responsible for the earlier pictographs may have lived in the Garden Canyon Village Site at the mouth of the canyon.  The Apache pictographs, painted primarily in white and black, date from cira A.D. 1700.  Color elements of the pictographs are separated spatially, and there is a clear sequence of paintings present.  The roof of the shelter is dominated by elements in white, with older red figures also present.  The vertical surface below the roof is dominated by paintings in black but also has red elements.”

Here are photos I took at the first site.  I apologize for the quality, but the lighting and the fence barrier made photograph difficult at the site. 

Site 2, signed as “The Rappel Cliffs Rockshelter Site”

The second site is a short drive up the canyon from the first site.  It too is signed and fenced, reached by a short trail up to the site.  Signage at the site gives this information about the rock art.:

“The Rappel Cliffs Rockshelter Site appears to have had very little visitation or use by the Apache.  Of the 32 elements identified on the vertical surface of the rockshelter, only three appear to be Apache in origin.  The pictographs seen here were produced using red and black pigments to create simple geometric elements such as lines, dots, combinations of lines and dots, and anthropomorphs, (human figures).  The use of geometric design elements suggest that the rock at the Rappel Cliffs Rockshelter may predate those found at the Garden Canyon Rock Art Pictograph Site.  The small red anthropomorphs, stylistically different from those found at the Garden Canyon Site, are suggestive of a Hohokam painting style.  The pictographs at Rappel Cliffs were probably produced by a number of individuals over a considerable period of time.  The antiquity of the rock art is based on the style, variable preservation, and weathering of the individual elements present.”

Here are the photos I took at the Rappel Cliffs Site.