Working On My Wish List —  A Rock Art Trip  (Part Two)

Prologue, Part Two…

This is a continuation of my blog covering a rock art trip I made in late September, 2024.  Part One of the blog covers the first five days of the trip including visits to The Storyteller Woman, Zuni Pueblo, The Mother of Game, and the Golden Disk.  This part covers the final five days and includes visits to Lacey’s Butte, The Checkered Man, Dead Wash, Rock Art Ranch, and Tutuveni.  A lot to cover, so lets get started!

 

The Beauty of Lacey’s Butte…( Wednesday September 25, 2025)

Due to the steep and unstable climbs the route to Lacey’s Butte requires, Richard decided not to join me on this morning.  As usual, I was first in line when the park opened at 8:00 a.m. and by 8:15 I was leaving the Lacey Point pullout, bound for Lacey’s Butte.  I was excited to see this site, and, as I expected, the climb down to the area was not bad.  A friend had povided me some tips, one being the entry point for the climb down.  Before I knew it, the land bridge and the Butte were in sight.      

Almost imediately I began to see pottery sherds, and lots of them.  I have been to a number of sites over the years that have large amounts of pottery laying around, but I don’t think I have ever experienced the quantity I saw at Lacey Butte —   amazing!  

It wasn’t long before I spotted the signature panel, which is dominated by a classic Mother of Game element.  It is positioned in a prominent spot below the rim of the butte and has a commanding view to the south, as if the panel is looking back across the land bridge.  The left portion of the panel has two sets of unusual footprints, each with one extra long toe. 

Except for the main panel, there was not an abundance of rock art on Lacey Butte.  I did find a number of small panels and isolated elements scattered among the boulders.  Below are a few examples.  For more photos from my visit, go to The Lacey Butte Gallery page. 

I experienced an exciting climb back up to the Lacey Point pullout, due to picking the wrong route back to the top.  After several aborted attempts, which involved sliding downward in the extremely loose and unstable skree, I finally made it in time to meet Richard at the Painted Desert Inn shortly after noon.  We then headed down to the Martha’s Butte trailhead and hiked over to the butte on the traditional trail.  Visiting Martha’s Butte is somewhat akin to slipping on a pair of comfortable shoes —  enjoyable and satisfying.  We had a leisurely visit and I enjoyed pointing out the rock art to Richard and taking some photos, which I will add to my Martha’s Butte Gallery.  In the meantime, here are a few photos from that afternoon.  

Any plans I had for exploring outside the park that day after closing time were scuttled when, upon returning to my car from Martha’s Butte, I found a dead rabbit behind the grill of my car.  Try as I might, I couldn’t get it out, so I ended up rushing to Holbrook and an auto repair shop who took care of it for me.  Very strange indeed!

In Search of the Checkerboard Man By Way of The Ranger Cabin…(Thursday September 26, 2024)

As Richard and I were planning this trip, we knew that getting to the Boundary Site (aka Petroglyph Mesa) had the potential to be problematic.  When I visited this site on a prior trip, I hiked to it by way of the traditional route, which begins near the Route 66 exhibit on the main park road.  It is a long and time consuming hike so I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to explore the site.  And, I never found the “Checkerboard Man”.  So for this trip we decided to make use of the Ranger Cabin, which we reserved and rented for the night of Thursday, September 26, 2024.  Our original plan involved parking on Tower Road, leaving a sign on our vehicle that we were hiking to the Ranger Cabin.  On the day before, I make a test run on Tower Road before the park opened, and what I found caused us to abandon that plan.  Basically, my car could not negotiate Tower Road because of washed out areas and deep sand in the washes.  So we decided to park near the gate on the road to the cabin, and hike the rest of the way.  That turned out to be a pretty good plan, since my car had no problems making it to the gate.  

Once we made it to the Ranger Cabin, we checked to make sure the code we had been given worked and that we could get in.  We  then continued on to the Boundary Site, which was still a little less than a mile away.  The cabin was right on the wash, which we used to get over to the site.  We did make use of the cabin, stopping there on our hike back to the car after exploring the Boundary Site.  By that time, it was quite hot, and we enjoyed the shade and the water that the cabin provided —  an excellent rest stop!

I was glad I got to visit this site again.  This time I did find the Checkerboard Man, which was a much smaller element than I thought it would be —  but still a very interesting and well executed figure.  I enjoyed seeing the classic Mother of Game figure at the site and having the opportunity to photograph it again.  During my first visit to the site I did virtually no climbing.  On this visit I climbed up to a ledge area and did some exploring up high.  I didn’t find much, but there was one panel that had a nice mountain lion element on it, although badly weathered and covered with a lot of white lichen.  Here are a few photos from this visit.  To see a more complete collection of photos, take a look at the Boundary Site Gallery.  

When we got back to the car, we decided to explore a portion of Lithodendron Wash which was located nearby.  We didn’t locate any art, but saw some interesting rock formations that are typical of the Devil’s Playground, which is not far away. 

Richard had received some information about a unique panel that is supposedly located in Lithodendron Wash near where it crosses under IH-40.  While we were in the area that afternoon we did a little searching along the wash.  We did not find the panel that Richard had information, but we did spot the panel below, which features a figure holding ceremonial staffs in each hand.  To the left of this figure, you can also see a faded image of a mountain lion.  

Mountain Lion Mesa…(Friday September 27, 2024)

We decided to spend Friday September 27, 2024 exploring around Mountain Lion Mesa.  Since we had already visited Martha’s Butte earlier in the week, we decided to take a non traditional route, using a park service road that approaches from the northeast.  We parked off the main park road and, just as we began our trek to Mountain Lion Mesa we ran across a couple of small petroglyph panels near the road.  Nothing spectacular, but interesting.  

As we hiked the rest of the way to Mountain Lion Mesa, we scanned landforms we passed, looking for rock art.   We didn’t see anything, but it was fun looking!  When we arrived at the mesa, we went directly to the Starving Man panel, hoping the morning light would be favorable for photographing the site.  Our hunch paid off, and we were able to get some nice photographs of the Starving Man and the surrounding panels. 

One of the things I wanted to do on this visit was explore the top of the mesa.  I found a way to the top and spent some time looking around, concentrating on the southeast corner of the mesa.  An old survey indicated there were some ruins in that area, as well as a cave and some moki steps.  The only indication of a ruin that I found was a mounded area.  I was not able to see any moki steps, but I did find a small cave that had some petroglphs inside as well as just outside the entry.  I  was surprized that I was not able to locate any new panels looking down on the talus from the top of the mesa.  I did find one nice isolate while boulder hopping just below the rim of the mesa.  While it was nice to revisit some old favorites, I was disappointed that I didn’t find much that was new to me.  Maybe next time!  To see more photos that I took at Mountain Lion Mesa that day, take a look at the Starving Man Gallery.  After a long, hot hike back to our car, we decided to call it a day.  

The One and Only Rock Art Ranch…(Saturday September 28, 2024)

While we were planning this trip, Richard and I agreed that while we were in the area, it would be nice to visit Brantley Baird’s Rock Art Ranch south of Winslow, Arizona.  We had both visited this site before, but wanted to return to photograph it again.  Sometimes seeing the art at a different time of year and in a little different light can make a big difference.  Richard had made arrangements with Brantley’s daughter to be met at the ranch’s exit gate at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, September 28, 2024.  Normally you have to enter through the main gate of the ranch and accompany a tour of the canyon that contains the rock art.  But since we had both visited the ranch before, they agreed to let us go into the canyon by ourselves and enter the ranch at the exit gate, which is quite close to the rock art.  Richard and I were pleasantly surprised when Brantley himself met us at the gate.  It was good to see him and catch up a bit before we went down into the canyon.   

It was a perfect day as Richard and I spent the morning down in the canyon photographing the magnificent rock art found at this site.  Below you will find a few of the photos I took that morning.  For a more photos from this visit, take a look at the Rock Art Ranch Gallery page.   

After we finished up at Rock Art Ranch we decided to visit and explore some of the areas adjacent to IH-40 near Petrified Forest N.P.  Two panels of note that we found —  one is identified as a partly anthropomorphized serpent on page 25 of Tapamveni.  The other is an outstanding panel that Richard amazingly spotted as we were traveling at 70 m.p.h. along the interstate.   

Our Last Day:  Finishing Up at PFNP and a Visit to Tutuveni…(Sunday September 29, 2024)

We decided to split up for our last morning in the Park.  Richard headed for a visit to the Flatiron Site, while I decided to explore in Dead Wash.   There is one panel of note in Dead Wash (that I know of anyway) and I had a general idea of where it was located.  Instead of taking the route to  the wash suggested by the Park’s “Off The Beaten Path” brochure, I decided to hike to the south and explore several small canyons along the way.  It was much more strenuous than I anticipated and I didn’t find any rock art, but I must admit it was a lot of fun.  I eventually found the beautiful panel I was looking for, which was more than enough to make the hike worth it!  

We left Petrified Forest N.P. a little after noon and headed west en route to Tutuveni.  Tutuveni is a Hopi Petroglyph Site that contains the largest collection of clan symbols in the American Southwest.  The site is on a Hopi pilgrimage route from the Mesas on their reservation land to the Grand Canyon.  Ironically, it is actually on the Navajo Reservation. We  drove to Cameron, AZ to purchase a visitor permit for Tutuveni from the Navajo Trading Post and then drove over to the site for a visit.  We had the site all to ourselves and didn’t see another soul during our visit.  I am very happy that I got to visit this site.  Several years ago I visited Dawa Park on the Hopi Reservation and heard about the clan site from my guide.  But, I must admit that I was a little disappointed with Tutuveni.  There was a large amount of modern grafitti and lots of litter at the site —  certainly not what I expected from a site that is sacred to the Hopi.  Here are a few photos that I took that afternoon.  For a more complete collection of photos that I took, go to the Tutuveni Gallery page.   

Epilogue…

 

Richard and I said our goodbyes over our Sunday evening dinner at Taco Bell in Tuba City, AZ, since I had decided to head home early the next morning. Originally I had planned to spend a couple of days in Santa Fe, NM looking for the Breath of Life site but I was already pretty worn out and running low on energy.  Looking back on this trip, Richard and I accomplished just about everything we set out to do.  I am very grateful that I got to see the Storyteller Woman, The Mother of Game, the Golden Disk, Lacey Butte, and Dead Wash.  My rock art resume now looks much better!

I am also very grateful that I still have the health and resources to make trips like this.  And I am most grateful for my wife Dorothy, who, for 50 years has signed off on and put up with my rock art wanderings and my rather glaring character defects.  I love you Dorothy. 

And, last but not least, I am grateful for my new friend Richard.  This trip would not have been possible without his help and encouragement.  Thank you Richard for your never ending energy, your positive and enthusiastic attitude, and your love for all thinks rock art.  I hope we do this again soon!  Tom McC