Arches Backcountry VII: Eagle Park

December 19, 2024

After a lackluster day in Tenmile Country, I wanted to hike into Eagle Park in the far northern section of Arches National Park. I didn’t know ahead of time what I would find there but I figured, based on earlier experience in nearby Devil’s Garden, that the prospects of seeing inscriptions and rock art were better here. I started hiking not far from where I’d camped the night before–I actually planned on driving closer but the road was rough and steep and I still haven’t fixed the 4WD in my truck, but I didn’t mind a little extra road walking. The first mile or so took me over a pinyon- and juniper-covered ridge separating Long Valley from Eagle Park. Just outside the Arches boundary I encountered an alcove that had some small boulders with grinding surfaces and a piece of broken metate, but I didn’t see any other artifacts.

View from my parking spot

Tree covered ridge north of Eagle Park

Alcove

Grinding surface on a boulder

Inside the alcove

Another grinding surface

Broken metate

Inside the alcove

I crossed over into the park and hiked into a narrow valley that quickly broadened. I spotted a natural arch that I could barely see through from my perspective but it seemed to have a decent span. The cliff faces had a lot of patina, and hence potential for somebody to write something on them. I found a few pieces of trash that I packed out, and ran into a 1924 inscription by Moises Martinez. The writing looked familiar, and it wasn’t until later in the day when I got back into cell service that I discovered I’d seen a different inscription 11 years earlier in Devil’s Garden that he made three days before this one in Eagle Park. I kept hiking along the cliffs, following the contours of the fins and boulders, and found a couple more inscriptions from about the same era.

Hiking in a wash

Fractured cliffs

Jumble of boulders

A sea of stickery plants

Natural arch

Close-up of the arch

Hydration reservoir that somebody left behind

February 3, 1924, Moises Martinez, Mora, New Mexico (and a turkey or peacock?)

More trash to pack out

Approaching some sandstone fins

Spires

Cow bones

Leaning boulders

The La Sals in the distance

Leaning boulder

+++ Domingo 1938

N. Martinez, Mallo (Mayo?) 23, 1921

The next stretch was more of the same–in and out of the passageways between fins. One such passage was wider at the bottom than at the top and it felt like a big underground room. I was surprised not to find any writings on the walls inside–it would have made for a good shelter in any season.

Tunnel between two fins

Old road through Eagle Park

Fins and spires

Shed deer antler

Slickrock ramp

Eagle Park panorama

Grotto between fins

Edge of Eagle Park

Huge pinyon pine

Leaning slab

I reached a long wall with a lot of patina on it. First I saw a faint petroglyph, then behind a couple of trees were many more good ones. Most of them were in partial shade and partial sun and I had to use my hat as a shade in order to get decent photos. Almost all of the glyphs were bighorn sheep of different shapes and sizes. There was another bird glyph made by Moises Martinez as well.

Long wall of patina

Faint petroglyph

Petroglyph wall covered by a tree

Fat-bodied bighorn

Back-to-back bighorns

Faceless bighorn

Biggest bighorn

Shaggy bighorn

More bighorns

Kissing bighorns

Bighorns, canine, snake

Peacock or turkey?

Bird on the wall

After checking out a couple more fissures between the fins I was out of real estate–there were no more cliffs to explore without adding many more miles to the hike. It was a mostly flat and featureless hike back to the truck. I briefly followed an old road to a drill hole, then turned north. At the edge of the park there were T-posts laid out all along the boundary. I suppose the NPS plans on returning to actually erect the fence someday. I still had one more day left on this trip and I drove north into the Book Cliffs and found a place to camp.

Dead end