January 2015

I’ve done several shorter hikes this month, none of which seemed to warrant their own photo album or blog entry, so I’m condensing them into a single trip report for the month of January. The first hike was one closer to home. I’ve been trying to locate any rock art close to Price that I can, and I heard about some near Hiawatha. I suspected that the pictographs were likely inaccessible on private property, but I decided to use the couple of short daylight hours between the time I got off work and sunset to look in another less likely spot. I didn’t find any rock art, but I unexpectedly stumbled upon a pit house along Miller Creek that had a lot of potsherds piled up around it. Although it was a short hike, the sun set on me before I got back to the Jeep. It was a great show watching the shadow of the Wasatch Plateau creep eastward across the valley while I made my way home.

Partial wall of a pit house
Partial wall of a pit house


Potsherds
Potsherds


A few of the more interesting potsherds
A few of the more interesting potsherds


View over the Price River Valley toward the Book Cliffs
View over the Price River Valley toward the Book Cliffs


Another hike was inspired by the first. I started thinking of how many pit houses I knew of along tributaries to Huntington Creek, which sparked a memory of a friend telling me about several pit houses along Cedar Creek. They had been excavated by archaeologists, which may have made them easier for me to find in Google Earth. Despite being legally looted, the Fremont village still held a lot of pottery pieces. I also found at least three minor sites which weren’t part of the excavation.

Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek


Potsherds near an excavated Fremont village
Potsherds near an excavated Fremont village


Jeep Grand Cherokee
Jeep Grand Cherokee


Potsherds littering the ground
Potsherds littering the ground


Excavated pit house
Excavated pit house


Potsherds from the same pot that appears to have been painted on the inside
Potsherds from the same pot that appears to have been painted on the inside


Last weekend I hiked with Alan and my son, Bradley, near the Price River. Alan had learned of some pit houses or lookout towers which we tried to locate. We found evidence of sheep herders and Indians, sometimes both in the same place. The best find was the remains of a granary that still had some corn in it. Bradley and I had separated from Alan–he was hiking along the top of a ridge line while we hiked below it. I spotted a corn cob at the bottom of a cliff, so I took a few steps back to look upward and spotted mud and sticks from the ruined granary that once held the corn.

Alcove with branches across the opening
Alcove with branches across the opening


Ooh, a pretty rock!
Ooh, a pretty rock!


Dead juniper and hazy sky
Dead juniper and hazy sky


Alan and Penny crossing the Price River on a makeshift bridge
Alan and Penny crossing the Price River on a makeshift bridge


The remains of a pit house or lookout tower
The remains of a pit house or lookout tower


Corn cob found below a granary
Corn cob found below a granary


Mud and sticks from a fallen granary
Mud and sticks from a fallen granary


Bradley
Bradley


A couple of days later, after work, I returned to Garley Canyon to revisit some rock art that I’d taken my kids to several years ago. I’d later learned of some slab-lined granaries below the rock art that I hadn’t noticed on my earlier trip. I spotted them easily this time, and I chalked my failure to notice them before up to inexperience. After visiting the rock art I climbed up onto the mesa above and walked around. The only interesting things I saw on top were deer, and they seemed to be doubly interested in me.

Grand Cherokee from above
Grand Cherokee from above


Old ladder below some petroglyphs
Old ladder below some petroglyphs


Zig-zag and line pictographs
Zig-zag and line pictographs


Slab-lined granary
Slab-lined granary


Sept. 15, 1912 inscription by Francis Gorley and the Stowell brothers: Urbon, Eston, and Elvin. Francis would have been 16 and Urbon 15 years old in 1912.
Sept. 15, 1912 inscription by Francis Gorley and the Stowell brothers: Urbon, Eston, and Elvin.  Francis would have been 16 and Urbon 15 years old in 1912.


Deer on the mesa above the Carbon Golf Course
Deer on the mesa above the Carbon Golf Course


View over the golf course and the town of Spring Glen, with the Book Cliffs on the horizon
View over the golf course and the town of Spring Glen, with the Book Cliffs on the horizon


Photo Gallery: January 2015

2 thoughts on “January 2015

  1. I know of a few sites in Cedar Creek and Miller Creek on private property that I have access to. If you’d like a tour, let me know…

    1. Cool, that would be awesome. I’m up for it whenever it’s convenient for you. Just send me a Facebook message if you ever want to go.

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