Moab Area Rock Art XLV | Saturday – Sunday, December 21-22, 2024
On this weekend before Christmas, Diane and I headed down to Moab so we could spend the Winter Solstice together revisiting a couple of rock art sites that I haven’t been back to in quite some time and so we could also check out a couple of new places and canyons along the way. We left home early on Saturday morning and made our way down along the Colorado River to the Poison Spider Trailhead, which apparently was paved in the last few months, so we could revisit the petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks above the river and then hike over to Longbow Arch from here.
It was nice to see the Poison Spider Petroglyphs again since I have not stopped here in a long time. I don’t recall there being much of a trail to these petroglyphs the last time I was here, and now there is a popular well-used loop.
Of course, we also stopped to see the dinosaur tracks that are found along the short loop trail.
Next up, we followed the Longbow Arch Trail up on to Poison Spider Mesa. I’m pretty sure that this trail did not exist the last time I was here, either.
Poison Spider Mesa
It was nice to see Longbow Arch again since it was such a surprise to find it the first time I accidentally stumbled upon it.
After exploring the fins on top of the mesa for a little bit and then looping back around to the trailhead via the Poison Spider Mesa Jeep Trail, we spent the rest of the weekend revisiting a few rock art sites and searching for new ones. These are some photos of what we saw…
The Blue Buffalo Site. Unfortunately, someone destroyed the Blue Buffalo back in 2001, but there is a good before and after photo here.
Blue Pictographs
Petroglyphs found on top of a large slab of sandstone.
Following the ledge to more petroglyphs.
These are a couple nice Barrier Canyon Style petroglyphs.
Triangle Men Panel
Grinding Stone
Here’s what remains of a small Barrier Canyon Style pictograph found on the ceiling of an alcove that contains quite a few faded pictographs and petroglyphs.
Red Handprints
Although it’s faded and hard-to-see, this Barrier Canyon Style pictograph panel was a highlight for us. The main figure really looks like an owl and has green eyes and a green line down it’s torso, which is kind of unusual.
Here’s a closer look at the green eyes on the main figure.
We went on a nice loop hike through a wet canyon on Sunday morning before heading home.
Kane Springs Canyon
Beautiful, as always. Happy Holidays to you both!