With my friend Chris back in the U.S. for a short while, and after having spent the weekend with a bunch of friends in the San Rafael Swell, I took Monday through Wednesday off work and he and I hiked each day. We sat down in front of my computer with Google Earth open and he picked a couple of trips that I had partially mapped out. We initially had a different trip in mind for Monday but then I checked the weather and decided with a chance of rain that we’d defer that trip until Tuesday and go to Nine Mile Canyon instead–a paved road sounded more pleasant than 50+ miles of potentially sloppy dirt roads. First we hiked up a side canyon to see a nice pictograph panel that I’d been to once before. We went farther up the canyon than I’d been on that previous trip and saw a little more rock art, and a cool inscription by A. Ostergaard from 1917. We’d had to leap across Nine Mile Creek on the way there, and on the return trip Chris missed the landing and got a little bit wet.
Red and white pictographs
Bighorn sheep and human figures
Ute petroglyphs
A. Ostergaard, 6/5-1917, Age 19
Blue sky and sagebrush
Pictographs overhead
Cow crap
W.B.
Jumping Nine Mile Creek
Next we stopped to explore some high cliffs and ledges where I’d spotted some good rock art from the road two and a half years earlier. As is often the case in Nine Mile, once we got to the rock art that’s visible from the road we encountered more and more as we scrambled around. Throughout the various cliff bands in this area were human figures with an unusual circle-head motif. We spent nearly two hours just climbing around this one spot.
Climbing up to the cliffs
Six-fingered figure
4×5 toes
Hands-up horned figure
Spirals
Ledge panel
Ledge panel zoom
The first of the circle-head motifs we encountered
More circle-heads
Circle-heads with more recent pecking
Small animal and human figures
Climbing higher around a corner
Another circle-head
Lichen-covered sheep
Turkey
Alien panel
Aliens
Small purple flowers
Burden bearers or hunchbacks
Unfinished bear track petroglyphs
One-armed figure
Horned figure
A big W
We moved down the road a short distance and climbed up to some more rock art I’d taken note of on a previous trip, spending another hour in one small area.
Panel below an overhang
Light-colored pictographs
Petroglyphs
Faded and dirt-covered panel
Long connected sheep, canine, and deer
Animal with bird tracks
Pictos and glyphs
Remains of some rock walls
Lines
Burden bearers or hunchbacks
Long zig-zag
Footprint panel
Pigskin panel
Our final stop yielded some interesting finds. We’d just been driving down the road and pointing binoculars at any spots that had good potential when I noticed some petroglyphs up high. It didn’t necessarily look possible to climb up to them but we gave it a try, and were surprised to find some moqui steps carved into a narrow ramp leading to the rock art. Behind some boulders there was more rock art not visible from below.
High-up ledge with petroglyphs
Moqui steps carved into a ramp
View down from above the ramp
Weathered horned figure
The small panel I’d seen from below
A nice panel that was hidden behind boulders
Fine details on this little horned guy
Wavy line figure
Dick and a box
The ledge we were on tapered away to nothing and we couldn’t continue further, but across the small side canyon was another ledge at the same level where I could see some stone structures. We clambered back down the moqui step ramp and to the road and scouted a way up to the ledge with the structures but we didn’t have time to confirm the route would go because my wife was expecting us home for dinner. We decided to return in a couple of days to give it a go.
Interesting ledge across the canyon
Structures on the ledge
Photo Gallery: Willkommen Zurück Part 1: Nine Mile Canyon