Arches National Park, Moab Rock Art, and Utah Rainbows

On Monday, after a long haul through Utah, I drove off the interstate to Arches National Park to check out their rock art and scenery (as recommended by Dex), and I had a fantastic time! The area is laden with canyons (Canyonlands National Park is close by) and the rock art is everywhere! There are two sites within Arches National Park, but I only got to visit one, as it started raining on me when I went to check out the other one. Moab is a neato little town with lots of kayak/rock climbing/adventure shops and cool little stores on the main strip. The Colorado river runs through town, which has carved out many of the canyons on its long way down to the Grand Canyon, all the way down in Arizonie! They also have a brewery, with great food and beer! Most of the rock art pictures are outside of the National Park, on main roads in the Moab area where anyone can check them out...enjoy!

Petroglyph in Arches National Park at the Wolfe Creek Ranch Rock Art Site.

Full panel from Wolfe Ranch Rock Art site. This is an example of historic Ute rock art. If you look closely, you can see people riding on horses, which were introduced into the New World by the Spanish and were eventually reared by the indigenous peoples. From the parks brochure map, "American Indians used this area for thousands of years. The Archaic peoples, and later ancestral Puebloan, Fremont, and Ute peoples, searched the arid desert for food animals, wild plant foods, and stone for tools and weapons. They also left evidence of their passing on a few pictograph and petroglyph panels."

Self-explanatory.

Arch.

Tree.

This was cool...this area is called "Devil's Garden," which was neat that I got to walk through it, as I've also been to the Garden of the Gods in both Colorado Springs and Shawnee National Forest in Illinois.

Me at the Pine Tree Arch in the Devil's Garden area.

Pine Tree Arch.

This is called "Balanced Rock". From the park's brochure map "Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculpted rock scenery of Arches National Park."

This is on the Utah Scenic Byway 279 (Potash Road). The entire panel was too large to photograph in one picture, and the images are about 25-30 feet up on the canyon wall. The images are dated to the Formative Period, AD 1 to AD 1275, which is where we see an overlap of Anasazi and Fremont forms.

Another part of the panel on Utah 279, showing several animals and anthropomorphs.

Another section of the panel, showing anthropomorphic figures and abstract designs.

There was rock art at this site on 279, but I couldn't find it. Those two white spots on the right side of that rock are dinosaur tracks. :)

Railway on Utah 279.

"Jug Handle Arch", again on Utah HWY 279...there is rock art at this site, but I couldn't find it...if you can see anything, let me know!

My Black Raven Oatmeal Stout at the Moab Brewery. Such a cool little place...you can check out their website here. I also had a cajun chicken sandwich and cole slaw, but I was hungry and gobbled it down before I thought to snap a photo! :P

I ran across this in Moonflower Canyon, while looking for rock art in the Moab area. Little did I know, the images were at the mouth of the canyon, but it was a nice walk into the canyon anyway. I put that little rock on top of the pile, and it DIDN'T fall over. :P

Petroglyph panel at Moonflower Canyon on Kane Creek BLVD in the Moab area dating from the Archaic to Formative periods. The large, triangular shape with head-dress is regarded as a "Barrier Canyon Style Figure". The bighorn sheep and abstract images are common in the Moab area, appearing at most sites that I surveyed. This panel is actually one of the most vandalized sites in the area and is now "protected" by a fence...

Detail of Bighorn Sheep and other zoomorphs at the mouth of Moonflower Canyon Rock Art Site.

More bighorn sheep and abstract figures.

Another panel on Kane Creek BLVD in Moab showing Big Horn Sheep, abstract images, anthropomorphic, and zoomorphic figures. The curvilinear shape with the line might be representative of a canyon and a river.

This was the biggie on Kane Creek BLVD in Moab. This boulder is located right off the dirt road with all four sides bearing rock art. The designs date from the Formative (AD 1- AD 1275) to the Ute period (AD 1200s to AD 1880).

This is a famous scene on the panel known as the "birthing scene"

Walking around the boulder, you find this.

Then this.

And this.

This is on the same panel of the boulder as the "birthing scene." D.J. said it looked like Darth Vader. Hahah! I thought it was a really cool anthropomorph. It was about 3 feet in height.

Feets on the main panel.

Horned serpent, anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, and abstract images on the main panel of the boulder.

Me with the boulder. This was one of the coolest rock art sites that I've ever seen!

Abstract images on another boulder just up the road.

This panel is known as the "Golf Course Rock Art Site", as it is located in a fancy area on near the golf course in Moab. There are many cool images on this panel.

Dex actually got me a sand-art card with this anthropomorph on the front when he went to Arches National Park. It was cool to find the actual image. :) I was a happy man.

Another part of the panel, you can see some vandalism at the bottom.

?

Another arch on the scenic drive to Colorado.

Rainbow (not double) on the way to Colorado from Utah. There was a ferocious storm a-brewin' and this magical thing was on the rim. I've never seen a rainbow from end-to-end, so this was pretty cool. I took a silly video, too, since I was too close to capture the entire thing. Check back soon, and I'll post it here.

One end of the rainbow. Skittles were flying out of the sky...

Now THAT is a double rainbow. :P These were actually two "sun dogs" as I've heard them called, but they were still cool to see!

As the sun started setting, this is what it looked like.

And then faded into this. It was neat to watch the process. :)

 Thanks for checking out my rock art pictures and double rainbows. Check back soon for more petroglyph pictures and Cliff Palace as well as other cliff dwelling sites from Mesa Verde National Park. And of course, some Rock Mountain scenery. :) I'm off to bed. Peace and love to all!

J