Long Fingers Canyon

The Maze and the Mesa | Day 9
Sunday, April 17, 2011

The last day of our 9 day trip had finally arrived and I was looking forward to getting home and taking a real shower. We wanted to make this a shorter day so that we wouldn’t be getting home too late. We broke down camp, had a quick breakfast and then we crossed over Comb Ridge and headed south along Butler Wash. Then we hiked into Long Fingers Canyon and explored all of the alcoves, ruins and rock art that we could find. It was a nice and easy hike with a lot to see and explore. It’s amazing how many large alcoves this short canyon contains!

Hiking along the ‘now closed’ road towards Comb Ridge and Long Fingers Canyon.

To the Comb by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The first large alcove we came to had a set of white handprints on the back wall.

White Hands by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

As we neared the Long Fingers Ruins we passed a number of faint petroglyphs and pictographs. I spotted this faint red anthropomorph high above.

Red Figure by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

This is certainly one of the more unique petroglyphs I have come across. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was hard to get a good shot of it, but I think this one turned out OK.

Flying Target by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Another of the faint petroglyphs on the way to the ruins.

Stick Figure by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Here’s another stick figure that has a round middle section…my guess would be representing pregnancy.

Pregnant Stick Figure by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

This boulder has a few interesting petroglyphs and a couple of metate grooves.

Metate Designs by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Jared exiting the deep alcove below the ruins.

Jared in the Alcove by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

These spirals appear to have legs and feet with three toes.

Spirals with Feet by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Here’s another ruin that appears to have had the back wall painted red and black.

Red and Black Wall by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Here’s the set of hand petroglyphs with very long fingers from where the canyon gets it’s name.

Long Fingers by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A couple of bird feet or tracks.

Bird Tracks by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

There were plenty of boulders around in the alcoves containing many metate grooves, but this one had more grooves than a lot of the others.

Metate Rock by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A few small pictographs in another alcove.

Small Man by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A closeup of some spiral design handprints.

Spiral Hands by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

This alcove contained a whole bunch of handprints.

Many Hands by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

An overview of the canyon and the Long Fingers Ruins…some above and some below.

Long Fingers Ruins by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Up by the higher set of ruins are a few green pictographs. I took this photo from below before we exited the canyon.

Green Target by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After we exited the canyon we climbed up Comb Ridge to try and access the higher set of ruins, but the route to reach them was a bit too much for us, so we headed back down to the Jeep and called it a day. Jared and I parted ways and a few hours later I was back home and unloading the Jeep.

We hiked a lot of miles…my legs were tired…I spent some time with good friends…we explored many new places…it was a great trip! The End.

>> Long Fingers Canyon Photo Gallery