Huntington, UT–Huntington State Park

I was at Huntington State Park May 30 – June 2.  The first and last night I was there, there were only 4 or 5 other RVs in the park.  But on the weekend, it was full.  That’s to be expected at a state park, especially one with a lake.   From my campsite, I watched prairie dogs and birds.  Below is a Bullock’s Oriole.

One of the places, I went while in Huntington was 9-mile canyon.  This canyon is actually more than 40 miles long.  There are several theories as to why it is called 9-mile, but I don’t care it was fun!

This canyon has a few parking areas along the road, so you know there is rock art around those areas.  But there are so many petroglyphs in this canyon that you just have to keep an eye on the rocks and pull over when you see something.  

This canyon had more doodles (squares, dots, lines…) than I have been seeing. 

Above is one of my favorite in the canyon.  This one was in an unmarked spot and I just happened to see a few petroglyphs.  So I stopped the car and looked around a bit and found this one.  I can’t decide if this is a fancy hairdo or ribbons or antenna, but I think it is interesting.  Also, note he has toes and fingers, most do not. 

Some of this canyon is private property and obviously some land owner got mad at all the people “tresspassing” on his property.  So he defaced a pictograph (and misspelled trespassing). 

I stopped at one of the side canyons, Daddy Canyon, to do a bit of hiking. 

It kind of looks like the man in the center of the photo below is juggling!

The petroglyph that 9-mile Canyon is known for is the Hunt Panel.

The one above is called the Big Buffalo.  His head was a little larger than my hand. 

By the way, if anyone likes the looks of this and does some research on the web, keep in mind that all of the information that I read talked about the rough dirt road thru the canyon  It is now paved to at least the Hunt Panel, so that makes it a bit easier to visit!

One day, I went to a couple of places in the San Rafael Swell.  I first went to the Wedge, known as Utah’s Grand Canyon.  I got there a bit early and the shadows were messing up my pictures so I went somewhere else and came back several hours later.

Not far from the Wedge is the Buckhorn Wash Road.  This road is very scenic and has some very interesting things to see.

Mat Warner was an outlaw at the time he signed his name of this cliff.  This area was a popular hideout for outlaws.   At one time, Mat Warner worked with Butch Cassidy.  He was finally caught and served 3 years for one of his crimes.  When he got out of jail he changed his ways and became a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Marshall in Price, Utah.  (I thought that only happened in the movies!)

Another Dinosaur track --

Scenery along the road -

And what this road is known for-- more Rock Art.  This is the Buckhorn Wash Pictographs.  These are more than 2000 years old!Below is the cliff with the drawings and a few people looking at them.

Headed back down the road, I noticed a cute petroglyph on a cliff just a short walk from the road.  Unfortunately there is a lot of graffiti around it.

My third day at Huntington I relaxed, walked around the park and took it easy. 

From here, I headed to North Salt Lake.  I hope you are not to tired of rock art yet.  While in North Salt Lake, I didn’t see any.  But I am currently in Vernal, UT and I saw more today at Dinosaur National Monument and am going to a place tomorrow that some people say has some of the best, if not the best, petroglyphs in the world.