After hiking at Paradise Flats all day, Chris and I found ourselves near Park’s Pasture on the east side of Boulder Mountain for the night. It’s one of my favorite places to camp, having spent six nights there over the past four years. After settling down at camp, Chris talked to his fiancée Dollie on the phone and we learned about the riots in Salt Lake City just a couple of blocks from their home near the state capitol. Luckily she wasn’t in any danger as long as she hunkered down in their apartment, so while we felt helpless there really wasn’t any need to go rushing home.
Camp spot near Park’s Pasture
Chris talking to Dollie, learning about the riots near their home in SLC
On Sunday Chris and I drove a short distance down the road and hiked along all the cliffs at Jorgenson Flat. I’d heard about some great rock art there and at Pleasant Creek Flats, but we were sorely disappointed after a full day’s worth of exploring the area. We walked along all the cliffs on the south and east sides of Jorgenson Flat and didn’t really find that much of interest. There were a couple of potsherds, some mediocre petroglyphs and pictographs, and a single inscription.
Fence on Jorgenson Flat
Happy birthday!
Potsherds
Cliffs
Jorgenson Flat
Bird shit
Chris examining some cliffs
Broken point
Jorgenson Flat petroglyphs
Jorgenson Flat petroglyphs
Corral against some cliffs
Dead deer
Sam F. Allen
Pictograph lines
Barrel below an overhang
Shaped stone
Faded pictographs
Next we drove farther down the road and hiked along an old road that crosses Pleasant Creek and climbs up to Pleasant Creek Flats. After crossing the creek we found a lichen-covered rock with “BR HES 164” carved into it. I later found out that it was a bearing rock for a land survey, and we ran across two others during the hike. We hiked along all of the cliff bands along the north side of Pleasant Creek Flats and found many inscriptions, a little bit of rock art, and several alcoves with metates inside. The petroglyphs were pretty good but still not what I had been led to believe was there, so I suppose there’s something I missed.
Old road leading into Pleasant Creek
BR (Bearing Rock) H.E.S. 164
Pleasant Creek crossing
Pleasant Creek Flats
Overhang with many inscriptions
Austin Hiskey, May 24, 1936
Robert Allen, May 29, 1950, Teasdale
Elmer Thompson, May 27, 1938
Broken metate
Carving of a bull
Pleasant Creek Flats petroglyphs
Pleasant Creek Flats petroglyphs
Fake petroglyphs
BR (Bearing Rock) H.E.S. ???
1 BR (Bearing Rock) H.E.S. 191
Chris checking out some petroglyphs
Glen Canyon Linear style petroglyphs
Glen Canyon Linear style petroglyphs
Yet another alcove
View out of an alcove
Broken metate
Broken metate
Metate
Pleasant Creek Flats
Metate
Metate
Alcove
As Chris and I reached the north side of Pleasant Creek Flats and exhausted all the possible rock art locations, we headed back across the flat and got absolutely dumped on with rain. I had my rain jacket in my pack so we stopped to shelter under a large juniper while I donned it, but Chris wasn’t as prepared and ended up getting soaked. I never got my camera out again during the downpour, and after we reached the Jeep we just high-tailed it toward home. We never did see any of the supposedly great rock art we were expecting, but I wouldn’t say the day was wasted. We saw some things that few people do and got a little exercise in as well.
Walking across Pleasant Creek Flats before a big rainstorm
Photo Gallery: Jorgenson and Pleasant Creek Flats