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Rock Art & Fall Colors

Moab Area Rock Art XXII | Saturday, October 20, 2012

This weekend, even right after my week-long trip, I was ready to get out hiking and exploring again. I figured that since I hadn’t been down to Moab for a while it might be a good time to get back for a day trip. Last year I spent some time exploring Mill Creek Canyon and wanted to get back to continue my search for rock art.

Before driving into Moab, I stopped at La Boca Arch to catch the sunrise. Here’s the arch in the soft dawn light before the sun came up.

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La Boca Arch Dawn by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Early morning light striking the arch.

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La Boca Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A closer look at the underside of La Boca Arch.

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Under the Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Light bouncing around inside the arch viewed from above.

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Hole of Light by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

When the sun was up, I continued on to Moab. I met up with Marty and then we drove over to Mill Creek Canyon so we could start our hike.

I didn’t spend much time taking photos of the colorful cottonwood trees along the creek this trip, but the colors were very nice.

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Green to Gold by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Shortly after starting our hike we visited on of my favorite petroglyph figures in the area.

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Hello – Goodbye by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A few more backlit cottonwood trees as we hiked further into the canyon.

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Backlight by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Soon we came across one of the highest concentration of petroglyphs I have ever come across. Some of these I visited last year, but we hiked even further this time and found a whole lot more.

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Squiggly Man by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

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Two Flute Players by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

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Teardrop by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

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Corner by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

This is an amazing and complex panel.

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Big Panel by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

There was a rockfall in front of this section of the cliff that had fallen in front of some of the petroglyphs. I liked how this long slab of sandstone kind of frames a few of the petroglyphs.

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Fallen by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

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Spiral Holder by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

I almost missed this one. It was high up on the cliff and appeared to be inaccessible.

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High Figure by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

I believe that I spotted this panel across the canyon last year, but ran out of time and wasn’t able to visit it. I made sure to correct that on this trip.

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Busy by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

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Curved Lines by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Before hiking back out of the canyon we found one last panel, and it was the biggest and most complex one we had seen all day. What amazing panel! This is a close look at just part of it.

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Long Panel Detail by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Here’s a panoramic photo of the full panel. This image is comprised of 7 vertical photos stiched together, and it looks great at full resolution. Click on this one to view it a little bigger.

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Wide Canvas by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After hiking back to the Jeep I grabbed some dinner in town and drove back home. It was nice to get out and start searching for rock art near Moab again. I’m sure there will be at least a few more of these trips this winter.

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