I received word from my friend Philippe this last weekend that the Robidoux Panel in the Book Cliffs was broken when he visited it at the beginning of his Southwest trip this year, so I just had to go see it for myself. On my way home from Moab on the solstice, I made the short detour and found that part of the panel had indeed broken off and fallen to the ground. I had last visited this panel on December 18, 2010 and it was all in one piece then.
Since I just finished my Chaco Canyon trip report over on myXJ.net I thought I would post up one of my favorite rock art photos from the trip.
This bird-like petroglyph that looks like a turkey watches over Chaco Canyon and Fajada Butte as the sun gets ready to drop below the horizon near Una Vida. I had visited this petroglyph earlier in the day and knew that I would have to return at sunset for this shot.
Here’s a Barrier Canyon Style pictograph panel that my friend Philippe and I ‘unexpectedly’ found while searching out some rock art in the San Rafael Swell. It’s an amazing panel and we both spent a good amount of time examining all the fine details. One thing I noticed while visiting this panel and searching the surrounding area for more rock art is that there was no footpath leading to this panel…not even a footprint anywhere around.
When I got home, I asked around to see if this panel had a name, and to my surprise, I was unable to find anyone else who has seen this panel before! While I am sure that we are not the first people to stumble across this panel, it’s kind of cool to find out that it’s not very well known at all.
This is an overview photo of the very large, tall and complex panel. I have other closeup shots of the different sections that I will probably post here in the future!
Get out there and start exploring….you never know what you might find!
A different perspective of the beautiful Barrier Canyon Style pictographs in the Ochre Alcove, also known as the Transformation Panel. This is certainly one of my favorite pictograph panels around. Many of the figures painted here are all pretty small compared to other Barrier Canyon Style panels, but the details are just amazing! I could just sit here all day and stare at this panel.
I’ve been anticipating the Summer Solstice this year so that I could visit the Solstice Snake (aka Solar Snake or Hyper Viper) and watch the arrowhead of light appear on the snake’s head. For about two minutes on the summer solstice a dagger of light shaped like an arrowhead appears on the head of this very large and well executed petroglyph of a snake near Moab. It was an amazing experience! I spent much of the beginning of the year researching this petroglyph and searching for it. Once I found it, it was just a matter of waiting for the short window of time to get this image. My time and efforts seem to have payed off!
