Quail Creek Petroglyphs WOWZERS!

Rock art everywhere!

Living in the middle of nowhere means that we have to travel a good distance to go shopping. I try to make the most of the drive (3 hours round trip to the "big city" of St. George, Utah) by planning out a few side diversions along the way. Today Harry and I decided to check out Quail Creek, a reservoir just outside of Hurricane, UT. We heard there were some petroglyphs in the hills, and my little hiking bud was excited to find them.

Harry checks out a big rock with lots of art

The hike was super easy -- most of the time we just followed the graded track that circles the reservoir. There are signs posted that gives you clues to find the petroglyphs.

I love petroglyphs! Especially ones that look like people.

Neat!

The entire hike took about an hour -- give or take. I would have loved to stay and explore more (I have a feeling there are a lot of neat things all over this mountain!!)  but we had to get to Costco :) Next time!

Remember to always respect the ancient rock art. Do not touch, walk on, or in any way deface these amazing sites. Thank you!

Davinci Man

Davinci Man panel in southern Utah

Let me tell you about our day. It was pretty SWEEEEET.

We were all set to go to Harry's Lego scrimmage (this is a thing.) but JJ got the pukes so it was just me and Harry on our way to Dixie State University to battle some robots.

Robotic Legos are really cool

That lasted all morning and we were really hungry. We stopped at Menchi's to fill up on froyo.  I was trying to butter him up to go with me and find a nearby petroglyph panel called Divinci Man. He was totally game :)

Menchi's FTW

After "lunch" we drove a couple miles through the Virgin River gorge to a pull off on the side of the highway. I had some rough GPS for the panel and we decided to go for it.

We hiked up and around and down and back up and over rocks and boulders to alongside the Virgin River.

Our playground

When we found Newspaper Rock (below) we knew we were close! Harry scoped out the landscape and spied what looked like a trail heading in the right direction.

Newspaper rock

Close up of newspaper rock

His spidey sense seemed to be tingling because YUP within about 100 yards we found him. Hooray!

FOUND IT!

Top of panel

A super fun day -- ended with a trip to Costco (why not) and then the long drive back to Kanab. I LOVE YOU, UTAH!!!

Twisted Hoodoo craziness

I'm totally obsessed with this place! Located kinda near Page, AZ (Churchwells, to be more precise), this super remote and other-wordly place is called Colorful Canyon. And it's FANTASTIC! Uh huh.

Where's Waldo?

We set out to find the Twisted Hoodoo -- a really top heavy rock spire with a big bulky rock hat placed on top of a skinny twisted body. :) (I think that's maybe the best way to describe it)

Swagger approves of this place

The entire adventure was pretty rad. The hike is weird and sandy -- and you won't see a single human being (maybe an alien or two).

You can see below why this place is called Colorful Canyon. The rocks are literally bright pink and purple with a splash of yellow here and there.

Colorful Canyon

JJ takes a breather on this wacky yellow stool

TWISTED HOOOOOOODOOOOO

Lunch break!

Wow that was fun! Can't wait to go back. LATER!

Duck Head Man + Kokopelli = WINNING!

My 2 fav characters on ONE ROCK! #winning

It's always exciting to find new petroglyphs -- but today was especially awesome because the two guys seen above are such icons in the rock art world. And to have them both on one panel was pretty frickin special. Kokopelli (the humpbacked flute player) and the guy with a duck on his head (that one is rare -- most of the time the duck replaces the head, he doesn't sit on his head!) are my two all-time favorite characters.

These glyphs were hard to find -- it took quite a bit of legwork and exploration. SO FUN! Nearly every rock had some sort of drawing on it. We also found a rare and elusive pictograph -- the Ghost of Iron County. These guys really wanted to stay hidden. I promised I wouldn't share their secret.

The ghost of Iron County

Awesome day with friends -- really feel fortunate to live in such a special place. Always remember to protect these places - don't touch, scratch, walk on, or deface the art. (duh!)

Cookie Cutter Petroglyphs

Some of the coolest rock art I've seen close to home

I'm always on the hunt to find new and secret rock art panels in southern Utah. A couple of years ago I saw a website with some really unique petroglyphs that were called "the cookie cutter petroglyphs". The location of the rock art appeared to be nearby (within an hour) and so I started to gather information from the web and google earth to see if I could find a logical and easy route to the panels.

Steve and I tried a couple of times to find a safe route to the area where they were located (we tracked that down via various blogs and gps waypoints) but we always got turned around by bad/dangerous roads.

Google Earth has really improved over the past years -- and finally, FINALLY, we thought we might see a viable route to the edge of the cliff where these cool carvings resided. So off we went, with a shovel and tow rope. And a super sketchy map.

Finding what you set out to find is like being a little kid all over again -- I was so giddy and excited! We found our treasure.

big, deep cuts create an amazing work of art

We've been searching for these glyphs for a looong time now. Yay!

This was my favorite panel because it seemed to have such a deliberate message. What do you think it means?

The cookie cutter panel is located out near Colorado City, AZ on the border of Utah. The fun part is the hunt -- and I'm confident if I can find it, so can you! :)

Have fun and be safe out there.
xoxo

Sidestep Canyon: A secret hike to another planet

One of the most remote, weird, and amazing places I've ever been to

Welcome to weird southern Utah. And hello, Sidestep Canyon!

Sidestep Canyon doesn't sound like the most amazing place in the world, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret: IT IS!

Giant colorful biscuits

 If you are looking for an all-day adventure that has no crowds (I'm fairly certain you won't see another human being), no fees (forget about that fee hike at Zion. This is WAY better anyhow!), huge weird rocks, hoodoos, slots, fossils, completely uncharted territory -- this is the place for you.

One huge hoo doo :)

Sidestep Canyon is near Big Water, UT. I've spent a lot of time on blogs, google earth, and the internet, piecing together bits of info to find a way into the canyon. That is half the fun -- so if you want to go, I'm not going to give you directions or gps. If I can find it, you can too. So after you are done looking at my pictures, start plotting >>>> You can do it!

stripes and colors and hoodoos and slot canyons OH MY

Lower sidestep canyon uniqueness :)

My fav hoodoo - very candy canes-ish

A pop of color in a very deserty wash

sandstone slot canyons -- a little scary, I gotta admit

Other-worldly

fragile walls, beams of light

Hiking around mars

Lots of fins and 'doos

Best ever - no crowds, no fees, lots of mother nature's sculptures <3

Sidestep Canyon has so many forks and narrows and diversions to explore. You could easily spend a lifetime here, discovering new wacky things each time.

So if you didn't get a Wave permit, if you've been to White Pockets, if you just want to get out of town and be an anti-social hermit and forget about life for a while -- get on google earth and start planning your trip. Or drop me an email and I might give you some hints :)

Peace out!