Billy and I at the signature panel of the Hidden Cove Site, outside of Holbrook, Arizona on April 10, 2019.

Training For a Trip To Nowhere…

As has become our custom each Spring, Billy and I set out for a modest adventure in search of rock art in early April of 2019.  We had planned to leave a little earlier, but I had a growth removed from my back and had to get the stitches removed before we could depart.  I put a lot of effort into planning our routes and itineraries, and my good friend Billy rewards me with the good natured title of “Control Freak”.  Our back and forth on this subject led me to hypothesize that if Billy planned a trip, it would be unfettered chaos.  To my surprise, he said that he would be glad to plan a trip, and, in fact, had already done so-  he calls it “A Trip To Nowhere”.  Billy’s plan is that we just get in the truck and drive, landing wherever the road and our fates take us.  Well, as you can imagine, that scenario does not inspire confidence with this control freak.  Anyway, it was the topic for much good natured discussion on this trip, hence the title of this post.  On to the real world…..

Heading West…

I got up early on the morning of Monday, April 1, 2019, and drove into San Antonio for an early morning appointment to have my stitches removed.  That little detour went off without a hitch and I headed to pick up Billy at Whispering Oaks, his ranch in Schleicher County.  To my amazement, Billy was packed and ready to go, so we headed west.  We ended up spending the night in Deming, New Mexico, at the iconic Butterfield Stage Motel on Route 66.  I was saddened to see that the neon sign was only half lit up, but it is still magnificent.  I truly enjoy these old motels!

The owner of the motel said the cheapest quote to fix the sign was $30,000...nostalgia ain't cheap!
Each room at the Butterfield has a small mural near the entry door to the room....

Arizona, Here We Come…

We set out from Deming on Tuesday morning, April 2, 2019.  Since Billy had never been to Saguaro National Park in Tucson, we decided to drive through the park and enjoy the beautiful landscape and the magnificent cacti.  We also stretched out legs, stopping to do the short hike up Signal Hill and enjoying the many petroglyphs near the top of the hill.

The entrance to the National Park.
View from the top of Signal Hill, and the signature spiral image.

Exploring the Magnificent Gila Bend…

We left Saguaro National Park and stopped for a Mexican food lunch in north Tucson.  We drove to Gila Bend, Arizona and checked in to a motel and relaxed for a short while before heading out to the Rocky Point site and a visit to the Painted Rock site.  It was a pleasant evening to climb up to and explore Rocky Point.  On the way up we saw our first rattlesnake of the trip, a Sonoran Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus).  One of seventeen types of rattlesnakes that inhabit Arizona, the Sonoran Sidewinder is easily identified by the horns above its eyes.  After exploring Rocky Point, we stopped by the Painted Rock Site, which is an amazing place.  It consists of a group of boulders which are covered with petroglyphs, and, unlike Rocky Point and the two sites we would visit the next day, are not right on the Gila River.  After spending about an hour at the site, we drove back to Gila Bend and had supper at the Space Age Restaurant.  A good day!

A Sonoran Sidewinder on the trail up Rocky Point.
At the signature panel near the top of Rocky Point.
A small part of the art at the Painted Rocks Site.
Billy at Painted Rocks....
The neon at the Space Age Resturant and Lodge light up downtown Gila Bend, Arizona.

We got up early on Wednesday morning, April 3, 2019, eager to explore the Oatman Point Petroglyph Site and the Hummingbird Site, both located on the Gila River south and west of Rocky Point.  I spent a lot of time studying Google Earth, attempting to map out an approach to the sites.  Originally, I thought we could hike to both sites from one trailhead near the Oatman grave site.  We made it to this trailhead shortly after the sun came up, and spent most of the morning exploring the mesa and cliffs near the Oatman Massacre site. (For an interesting article about this tragic event at the site in 1851, look here.)

Billy at the Oatman Grave site near the trailhead to the mesa top.
The first petroglyph of the day, near the old wagon trail leading to the Oatman Massacre Site.
The Oatman Massacre site, on top of the mesa overlooking the Gila River.

We first climbed up the old wagon road to the massacre site, encountering a couple of nice petroglyph panels near the top of the cliff.  After exploring the cliff edge on top of the mesa for about a quarter of a mile, we decided to hike back down and hike along the base of the cliff.  We hiked the base of the cliff for quite a distance, finding almost no rock art.  The further we hiked, the more difficult it got, to the point that we had a hard time proceeding any further.  We climbed back up to the mesa top and, in the process, saw many petroglyphs out by the point.  We hiked toward the point, then climbed down in the area of the point and found many petroglphs in the area.

Billy at Oatman Point. You can see across the riverbed to the cliffs where Hummingbird Point is located to the west.
One of several very nice panels at Oatman Point.
Billy at Oatman Point. We enjoyed lots of wildflowers in the area!

We had orginally planned to hike over to the Hummingbird Point Petroglyph Site from Oatman Point, but after encountering very dense vegetation in the riverbed below Oatman (and the absence of any discernible trails) we decided to approach Hummingbird from Rocky Point Road on the other side of the Gila River.  We hiked back to our truck by the Oatman Gravesite, drove back to Rocky Point Road and proceeded to a turnout from which we could hike across the mesa top and find Hummingbird Point.   It took some doing, but we finally made it to Hummingbird Point around mid afternoon.  It was an interesting site, and we spent several hours boulder hopping and looking for art.  A great way to spend the day!

We followed this very old trail for a while, until Billy's compass told us we needed to head more to the west.
We found several peices of pottery while hiking out to Hummingbird Point.
The signature element at Hummingbird Point.

By the time we hiked back to our truck from Hummingbird Point, we were two tired old men.  It had been a very full day but very satisfying.  We spent one more night in Gila Bend, and got up Thursday morning, April 4th, excited that we were headed for Phoenix and dinner with Billy’s Aunt Martha.  In June of 1982, we had stopped and visited her on the way to Las Vegas and the Cooney/Holmes fight.  On that visit, we had taken a picture with Aunt Martha (the three of us sitting on her couch) and Billy wanted to recreate that photo some 37 years later.  On the way to Phoenix we stopped at the Gillespie Dam Petroglyph Site and the Enterprise Petroglyph Site.  Both were interesting sites and we spent several hours exploring at each site.  Late that afternoon we checked into our motel in Phoenix and freshened up for our dinner with Aunt Martha.  She was a delightful dinner companion and we enjoyed our visit with her!

Billy at the Gillespie Dam site.
The Enterpise Site had some very well executed petroglyphs.
1982
April 4, 2019 - 37 years later!

Heading North…

Friday morning, April 5, 2019, found us leaving Phoenix headed north for the Agua Fria National Monument.  I had read about some interesting pre-historic ruins and associated rock art that is located there.  Although there are numerous sites in the national monument and the adjoining Tonto National Forest, the powers-that-be do not disclose the locations of most of them.  So I spent a lot of time on google earth locating and trying to decide which sites to try to find and explore.  I decided we would spend the bulk of our time at the Brooklyn Basin Site, which is reached by driving through the national monument then south onto Tonto National Forest.   It took us about two hours to reach the site and we had a wonderful time exploring the cliffs below the four sets of ruins at the site.  On the way back to the freeway we also visited the Pueblo Plata site and did a hike down into Silver Creek.  This is a place I would like to revisit some day as there is still lots to explore there!

At the entrance to Agua Fria National Monument.
Billy, preparing to hike down the cliff below the main ruin at Brooklyn Basin.
The "Big Deer" Panel at Brooklyn Basin.

After finishing up at Agua Fria, we drove to Camp Verde and checked into a cute little motel.  We had a much more leisurely day planned for Saturday, April 6th.  We got up, walked down to the City Cafe and had a nice breakfast.  We drove out to the Palatki Site and were at the gate when it opened at 9:00 a.m.  We were part of a small tour group (the Palatki site requires that you be escorted by a docent to both the ruin site and the grotto that has the rock art) that visited the main ruin and the main rock art site.  It was a pleasant and informative experience.  After our visit to Palatki, we drove 5 miles over to the Honanki Site, which is a little more informal.  They have someone at the trailhead, but you are allowed to hike to and explore the ruins on your own.  The rock art at Honanki was impressive, and we enjoyed our time there.  We decided to drive into Sedona and brave the hordes for lunch.  Not my cup of tea, but I am glad I can say I have been there. Once.  After lunch, we drove to the V bar V Ranch Heritage Site, which is home to a really nice set of petroglyphs and an old ranch ruin.  Then it was back to Camp Verde, where we had a nice steak dinner in preparation for the Texas Tech Basketball game.  Billy was in fine spirits, as Tech beat Gonzaga in the semi-finals of the tournament.  We decided to change our plans so that we could watch the finals on Monday night in Vegas.  I was able to book us a nice room for two nights at M Resort in Vegas so that we could watch the finals in their sports book.

We got up Sunday morning April 7 and headed for Las Vegas.  We had planned to stop at the Keyhole Sink site (outside of Williams, AZ), Grapevine Canyon (Nevada), and Keyhole Canyon (Nevada) on the way.  Unfortunately we hit a massive, and I truly mean massive, traffic jam just east of Flagstaff on IH-40.  Turns out there was a bad wreck and the interstate was completely closed.  We ended up going back into Flagstaff and detoured to the north, almost to the Grand Canyon.  Our detour ended up taking several hours, but we did have time to visit the magnificent Grapevine Canyon Site, which Billy had never been to before.  After a stop at Grapevine, we headed for Keyhole Canyon and, for the second time, I was unable to locate it due to taking a wrong road.  It was getting late so we gave up and drove on into Vegas and checked into the M Resort.  The Resort is located about ten minutes from the strip, so it is kind of isolated and self-contained.  We had a really nice suite and looked forward to relaxing on Monday and watching Tech in the Championship Final Monday night, which is exactly what we did!

Heading Home…

We had originally planned leave Vegas Tuesday morning (April 9) and head over to Gold Butte National Monument for a couple of nights camping and exploring.  The Kotha Circus and Falling Man sites have been on my radar for a long time and I was looking forward to seeing if we could find them.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  Begining late Tuesday, high winds and cold were forecast, so we decided to head South, hit IH-40 and hopefully avoid the worst of the weather.  Billy was a little under the weather….well,  a lot under the weather actually.  So he spent the day sleeping in the truck as I finally found the Keyhole Canyon Site (near Searchlight, Nevada), then hiked to the Keyhole Sink Site (near Williams, AZ), before driving to Holbrook, Arizona where we spent the night.  The next morning we got up very early to visit the Hidden Cove Petroglyph Site outside of Holbrook.  We were given a tour of the site by Mike O’Dell, a long time city employee who has been the driving force behind the preservation and development of the site.  Mike was very accommodating and knowledgeable-  his love for the place was very apparent.  (See the Hidden Cove Gallery under the Arizona section of the Rock Art Galleries menu tab for more information and photos of the site.)  It was cold and windy, but not too bad in the protected canyon.  After spending a couple of hours at Hidden Cove, we drove over to Petrified Forest National Forest, intending to hike out to Martha’s Butte.  The weather was deteriorating rapidly.  We stopped at Puerco Pueblo, and hiked the river across the road.  Although it was in a protected area, it was miserable, and beginning to sleet and snow.  After that short hike we left the park, headed for home.  We did stop and visit the iconic Mountain Lion Petroglyph at the Painted Desert Inn.  The only other thing of note on the way home was a stop at Stanley March’s Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo.

Epilogue…

Our Spring 2019 Rock Art Trip was a success-  the right blend of hard days and easy days, and it sure was good to see Aunt Martha again.  I am grateful that my friend Billy Ward puts up with my character flaws and still seems to enjoy accompanying me on these trips-  Thank You Billy!  If you are interested in the rock art we saw, visit the Arizona and Nevada Rock Art Galleries on this website, where I have posted a gallery with lots of pictures of each of the sites we visited on this trip.  You can also visit the individual galleries by clicking on links highlighted in blue.   Thanks for taking time to visit my website and read my posts!