Indian Creek

Udink

Still right here.
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
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I originally expected this post to be titled "Indian Creek and Davis Canyon," but I underestimated the awesomeness of Indian Creek. Alan and I spent eight hours on Saturday exploring along a stretch of UT-211 just over four miles long and found hundreds of petroglyphs and a few pictographs. I took over 700 photos--my new record for a single day--and Alan took nearly 1,000! We were finding so much rock art along Indian Creek that we never made it to Davis Canyon, and even during the drive back out of Indian Creek we were spotting rock art that we'd missed on the way in. At some point one has to draw the line, though, and if we wanted to make it home before summer we needed to just keep on driving.

Alan planned the trip and we got the usual 6AM start from my place. There was a lot of fog between I-70 and Moab, and south of Moab the roads were snow-covered. We hadn't planned on there being several inches of new snow in Indian Creek Canyon but it didn't hinder us much. We stopped first just around the corner from Newspaper Rock and looked at some petroglyphs and inscriptions from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Newspaper Rock was mostly covered with snow. I didn't really mind the snow over the rock art--it gave it a uniqueness not often seen.

Ice crystals that grew in columns on the Jeep while driving through fog on the way to Moab
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Church Rock in the mirror from UT-211
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Cliffs with old inscriptions and petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Part of an 1885 inscription
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Newspaper Rock
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Newspaper Rock
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We didn't have a lot of stops planned for this trip. There were some places where Alan knew of rock art, but for the most part we just drove slowly and stopped whenever either of us saw something. The next stop after Newspaper Rock was one such place with some petroglyphs spotted from the Jeep. There was so little traffic, and so much snow on the shoulder of the road, that I just parked in the travel lane with the hazard lights flashing. There was a very nice panel there with three large bighorn sheep, and nearby was a row of nine smaller sheep.

Three sheep
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Checking out some petroglyphs we spotted from the road
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Petroglyphs
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Nine sheep
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We made frequent stops and they all blurred into one another. I lost track of the number of individual sites we visited. Some rock art panels were very close to road level and others were up steep talus slopes. Most of the sites were within spitting distance of the road but we did hike up a few side canyons. The photos tell the story better than a narrative, so here are a bunch of 'em.

Sun petroglyph spotted from the road
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Parked on UT-211 looking for rock art
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Petroglyphs
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Figure inside a figure
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Many snake petroglyphs
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Hiking up to some petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Large petroglyph panel
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Petroglyphs
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Climbing down from some very high petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Parked along UT-211
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Crossing Indian Creek
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Very faded pictograph
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Unnamed side canyon
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Yucca and snow
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Alan getting a closer look at some petroglyphs
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Three figures
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Large prickly pear cactus
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Large and very cool petroglyph panel (there are even some glyphs inside the crack)
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Long snake petroglyphs
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Centipede and circles
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Petroglyphs
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Three sheep
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Big-foot archer
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Petroglyphs
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Faintly-abraded figure with some petroglyphs
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Large abraded figures only reachable by climbing up a crack between a boulder and the cliff
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Climbing down the crack
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Side canyon
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Very cool flute player
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Kangaroo
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High and low petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Two (or three?) figures
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View up the canyon
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As we approached our last planned stop I took a breather while scrambling up a steep hill and trained my binoculars on the cliffs farther down the canyon. I spotted a granary 0.3 miles away and hoped we'd have time to hiked up to it before the sun set. The panel we were hiking up to, called Fighting Men, had a lot of other great petroglyphs near it. It took Alan and I a while to clear the cliffs in each direction before being sure we'd seen it all, then moved on toward the granary.

A granary that I spotted through binoculars from 0.3 miles away
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Inside-outside
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Petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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White pictograph
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Getting the shot up high
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Fighting Men panel
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Fighting Men
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Petroglyphs
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We got up to the granary while the sun was still shining. There were a few large abraded (as opposed to pecked) petroglyphs near the granary, along with a LOT of inscriptions. Shadows rose on the cliff walls as Alan and I searched them for more rock art. We found a few more petroglyphs, and I found a cave-like feature but it was too dark for me to explore fully. I took a few photos with the flash on but it wasn't until after getting home and viewing the photos on my computer that I realized there was an 1899 inscription and some petroglyphs inside.

Granary
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Old inscriptions, abraded shield figures, and probably a Ute horse petroglyph
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Inscriptions and concentric circle petroglyph above the granary
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Sun setting on the granary
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Odd petroglyph
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Inside the cave near the granary
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Shadows rising on the cliffs of Indian Creek
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It got cold quickly with the sun behind the western canyon walls. There was a lot more to see but our exploration was over for the day. It's somewhat of a long drive for just a daytrip, but I can foresee me going back to Indian Creek again a few more times.


Deer and an old cabin
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Donnelly Canyon
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Peak 7,010' (directly west of Newspaper Rock)
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Full photo gallery:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/IndianCreek

Featured image for home page:
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WAY cool! I'm blown away by how much art you found in such a short time and space! Just amazing. And may I just say, screw FB for not showing me this album when you posted it. I saw this trip report and was more surprised than usual!
 
I've driven through Indian Creek Canyon countless times, and I almost always spot something new on each trip!
 
And may I just say, screw FB for not showing me this album when you posted it.
Yeah, I've never figured out what their rationale is for not letting you see everything your friends post. :devil:

I've driven through Indian Creek Canyon countless times, and I almost always spot something new on each trip!
If I ever make it back for Davis Canyon I'll have to plan an overnighter and devote an entire day just to make the drive through Indian Creek! :D Although I'm sure Davis Canyon itself is worth an entire day, so it's just as well that I didn't make it there this weekend.
 
If I ever make it back for Davis Canyon I'll have to plan an overnighter and devote an entire day just to make the drive through Indian Creek! :D Although I'm sure Davis Canyon itself is worth an entire day, so it's just as well that I didn't make it there this weekend.

Davis is definitely worth a full day....and more :) There's a nice place to camp just outside the park boundary :)
 
Awesome TR! Thanks for sharing the great photos as well!
 
Nice TR Dennis! I love Indian Creek. I done the drive slow and spot rock art thing through there before. Lots of neat stuff! Due to the lack of good turnouts, one of these days I figure I'll just hike alongside the road for four or five miles to see what else I can find.
 
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