For many years, nearly as long as I've been interested in Native American rock art, I've been hearing about a place in Utah called Nine Mile Canyon, which is supposedly a treasure trove of petroglyphs, pictographs and even some long-abandoned structures, all created by the ancient Fremont People who lived in the area some thousand to two-thousand years ago. While my friend, Nick, and I have been exploring a number of sites along the way, the primary focus of this vacation and road trip through Utah has always been a drive through Nine Mile Canyon. The name of the canyon is a misnomer though, as the canyon is roughly forty-five miles long. Why it the canyon and the creek that cut it are known as Nine Mile Canyon is lost to history. Poorly named or not, the canyon is renowned as the longest art gallery in the world. As both Nick and I have a keen interest in rock art, this should be an amazing day.
After departing Moab this morning and exploring the dinosaur tracks at Copper Ridge, we headed north towards Wellington and the entrance to the canyon. Apparently, much of the road has been improved in the years since many of the write-ups I've read in preparation were written and now it is almost entirely paved. That's probably a good thing as our rental car has already suffered some thorough abuse traversing across gravel, sand and dirt roads as we've made our way here.
Initially no different than other canyons of the region, this one has rugged hillsides with the occasional hoodoo rock formation carved by wind and water. It's width varies from section to section, but never really exceeds more than a quarter of a mile or so. After driving several miles along Soldier Creek road and enjoying the vistas, but not seeing much in the way of rock art, we finally come upon a sign indicating the start of the outdoor museum known as Nine Mile Canyon.
Almost immediately, we begin seeing petroglyphs carved in the red sandstone to our west. We hop out to examine several locations. At one point, I hop out of the car to snap some pictures of a panel, while Nick waits. After reaching the panel though, I motion for him to kill the engine and join me. Below the petroglyph panel and protected by an overhang several red humanoid figures have been painted on the smooth surface. We found our first pictographs in the canyon!
For the next few miles, we encounter panel after panel along the canyon wall and stop to take pictures of most of them. May are fantastic, but most are very similar in style. As we approach Harmon Canyon following a blog we've been attempting to use as a guide, we get out of the car and begin walking up a long, wide wash looking for petroglyphs on both sides of the side canyon as described in the blog. After splitting up to cover more ground and making our way up approximately a mile, we've only found a single petroglyph, which is a magnificent stylized horse. This is nothing like what the blog described. We've seen lots of cow bones in and among the sagebrush, but only that single petroglyph. Returning to the car, we question where we had gone astray only to find a second sign for Harmon Canyon, with a cliff wall loaded with rock art. The author didn't mention two signs. Oh well, it was nice to stretch my legs for a bit.
Once gain returning to the car, we push on and begin looking for some structures described in the blog, including a watchtower jutting finger of the far side of the canyon and a small granary tucked away precariously under an overhang. How in the world did they get up there to store and later collect their grain? It seems impossible and if not impossible, far to challenging a climb just to make some form of flat bread. Wow!
Pushing on, we encounter petroglyph panel after petroglyph panel. It's a veritable amusement park of pre-historic rock art. The reputation of this place is well worth it. One panel, which is punctuated by a large snake petroglyph, requires us to climb up a rocky hillside to the cliff wall for a closer examination. It's a little challenging and I think Nick kind of regretted it if his heavy breathing was any indicator. The panel was nice though and it felt good to get my heart pumping a bit. We leave in disgust.
Another very interesting panel is the Owl Panel, which requires a short walk up a side canyon. This panel has a number of images on it, but the most obvious is that of a great horned owl flapping it's wings. There are more panels around this one, but the owl is the highlight. We decide to move on.
I'm truly in awe of this place. So many ancient artists must have spent their time in this canyon carving their masterpieces for all time. So one would hope. Our next stop takes us to to Rassmussuen's Cave, which is nothing more than a wide overhang. Underneath the natural shelter though a number of pictographs have been painted in red to decorate the area. Truly amazing images of buffalo, deer and other creatures. And then, a terrible stain on our modern world. Someone, presumably a local land owner, has painted in bold black letters "This is Private Property. No Trespassing" directly over the image of the most amazing deer, spoiling this masterpiece for all time. How hateful and ignorant can people be!
Further down the canyon, we come to the Big Buffalo Panel, which as you might have guessed includes the image of a large buffalo low on the cliff wall and just a foot or so above the sandy floor of the canyon. Other images surround the buffalo and the cover the nearby smooth surfaces. Investigating a little ways down this wall, we come across the Pregnant Buffalo Panel, which is similar, but has distinct line indicating her condition.
Finally, we reach what many consider the masterpiece of this grand gallery of rock art, the Great Hunt Panel. This panel has it's own parking lot and is often considered the highlight of the trip and the calling card for this place. The panel is a few feet up the smooth cliff side and contains five or six hunters with bow and arrow within a herd of rams. It's stunning and I must believe that it relates the story of a bountiful hunt centuries ago. I hope families of those great hunters enjoyed their meal as much as I'm enjoying a look at the story of how it was obtained. Truly magnificent!
Now at the far end of the canyon, we turn back. There are a couple of gravel roads leading to other panels, but having already done some damage to the rental, we decide to avoid these and be content with all of the great rock art we've already been able to see. It's going to be difficult to top this place!
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