Torrey, UT–Part 3

While in Torrey,  I  went to a couple of spots known for their petroglyphs and pictographs.  The first spot was the Rochester Rock Art Panel near Emery, UT.  The trail to the petroglyphs is about a half mile along the side of the canyon.  It was a nice trail, even before getting to the rock art.

In a few places the trail was a bit close to the cliff and there were a couple of places you had to detour around small rock slides, but that’s what made it fun!

This part of the trail was along the top of a ridge.  I didn’t know it at the time, but the rocks in the middle of the picture is where the petroglyphs are.

This rock art panel has etchings mostly from the Fremont culture, which dates from AD 700 to 1300.  There are also more “modern” etchings.  I have mentioned before that it is difficult for the experts to date the petroglyphs.  One way of doing so is by the figures that are drawn.  This petroglyph contains some horses, so they say these etchings are more modern since horses were not introduced to North America until the 1600th century. 

One of my favorite etchings was this owl--

I spent 20 minutes or so studying this art panel.  I was intrigued by the animals below.

The animal on the left reminded me of an alligator.  Who knows what it and the others really are.

On the way back to the parking lot, I ran across another rock with the measles! 

From this spot, I headed to the Head of Sinbad area.  This area is mainly a place for 4-wheel drive vehicles, I saw a lot of ATVs.  But I had read that a regular vehicle could make it within 3/4 mile of the rock art.  So I drove to just before the interstate underpass and  walked the rest of the way.  There were no signs, and a few intersections that I questioned.  But I figured it out and found the pictographs.  The drawing below is quite often referred to as the best preserved pictograph of the Barrier Canyon style.  This means that these drawings are 1200 – 4000 years old.   Several people who study rock art say these are about 3000 years old.

This is the other set of pictographs at the Head of Sinbad.  Unfortunately the one on the left is being destroyed by mud that is slowly eroding down the cliff.  But you can still see why many people say he has a face like ET.  It’s unfortunate that this one is fading because I found it more interesting than the other one.

I wondered what the small “antenna head” figures between the 2 characters (bottom left in the picture above) were.  Also, I wanted to know what the circles to the right with the feathers or hair are.  Of course, nobody really knows!

On the way back, I had a good laugh at the underpass.

While I was walking thru it, I noticed this--

The hole on the left had a corresponding hole on the right. I am guessing it is some type of drainage pipe that was there before the underpass.  If not then somebody must have thought the water would jump from one side of the underpass to the other side.  That would be a sight to see!!  I’m guessing in heavy rains that the underpass gets flooded. 

From Torrey, UT I went to Huntington State Park.