On our way home from the Arizona Strip, we made a detour along Comb Ridge to search for this petroglyph panel. The name Jump Rope Man comes from the central figure that appears to be jumping rope. I wonder what that figure could have represented? It’s not a very large panel, but it’s very unique and in great shape.
A small lizard-like stick figure with large hands and feet carved into a canyon wall near Butler Wash. Getting through all of the thick tamarisk to reach this and a few other panels near the San Juan River was an adventure, but it was worth it.
Here’s a portion of an amazing Basketmaker petroglyph panel located along the San Juan River near Butler Wash and known as the Shamans Panel. Currently, this is probably the best portion of the panel, however, if you walk along the cliff face you will find hundreds, if not thousands, of other petroglyphs in this same area. Unfortunately, a lot of the other petroglyphs are very faint and hard to see and photograph. This area must have been very important in the past.
The Sand Island petroglyph site is one of the large sites that I have visited numerous times and I always seem to find something new on each visit. There is just so much to be seen here if you study the site closely. The main reason I am posting this photo today, which only shows a small section of the panel, is because of the mask-like petroglyphs that can be seen close to the center. These masks are very similar to the Green Mask pictograph that I posted a photo of yesterday.
Since I posted a photo of the Wolfman Panel earlier today, I’ll post this photo of the small ruin located across Butler Wash from the panel. I’m not sure if this particular ruin has a name, but I’m going to go ahead and call it the Wolfman Ruin because of it’s proximity to the rock art. You can spot this ruin across the canyon from the old parking area for the Wolfman Panel (I say ‘old’ because the BLM closed off access to the slickrock parking area sometime over the last year or so). Getting across the canyon to visit this ruin is a little bit trickier, but well worth the effort. There are also some faint petroglyphs found near this ruin if you spend the time to explore the area.
