Since it’s Christmas I thought it might be fitting to post a photo of the petroglyph known as Santa’s Sleigh. I took this photo earlier this month after spending the day exploring Mill Creek with my friend Jackson and finding many other new petroglyph panels. We drove by it just as the last rays of the sun for the day were striking it and I just had to stop for a quick photo. I’m sure you can figure out where this panel got it’s name from just by looking at it. Happy Holidays!
While exploring the San Rafael Swell last month, I came across this small but very detailed pictograph panel. It’s not the best preserved site I have ever been to, but there’s still enough detail here to see what’s going on. The figure on the left has it’s arms outstretched just like the main figure in the Ascending Sheep Panel. Looking closer, this figure might even have the same bighorn sheep head and snake tongue, too? The next figure on the right appears to be playing a flute and there seems to be a very skinny snake above them both. What a very cool site!
When I arrived at this site it was in direct sunlight and didn’t photograph very well, but I liked this panel so much that I hung around for about an hour until the panel was completely in the shade. I’m glad I did because my photos turned out much better.
While searching Mill Creek Canyon near Moab for petroglyphs a few weeks ago, I spotted this panel high up above the canyon floor. After climbing up to it I found a way out of the canyon just beyond it. Sometimes I wonder if these panels mark travel routes in and out of these canyons?
While hiking the Hidden Valley and Moab Rim trails on Saturday we came across an excellent Basketmaker petroglyph panel that included this lone elk figure.
It took me a little while to finally find these petroglyphs after two different trips searching for them. I was just about to give up again this time when they caught my eye. I wasn’t looking quite high enough to find them originally.
Some believe that this scene depicts Coyote in the act of placing the stars. According to one Hopi creation myth, Old Spider Woman provides Coyote with with a sack filled with stars. After climbing to the top of a mountain he begins to distribute them neatly in the heavens, including creating the well-known constellations. Soon, he grows tired of this work and picks up the bag to throw its contents into the sky. This is the reason why many of the stars are not arranged in an orderly fashion.
Looking at this petroglyph site you can see many dots surrounding the coyote-like figure that could represent the stars and the bag-like object that is held in one of its hands.
