Tour de Swell

[IntrepidXJ]

Saturday & Sunday, March 29-30, 2014

The Original Trip Report on ADVENTR.CO

I recently realized that I hadn't been out to the San Rafael Swell in quite some time and felt it was time to get back again. Diane had never been to the Swell before so I thought it would be nice to give her an overview tour of the northern Swell this weekend. She would get to see some new sights and I would get to revisit and rephotograph some sites I have been to in the past. We left Grand Junction early on Saturday morning and made our way west through Green River before passing through the San Rafael Reef and climbing onto the San Rafael Swell.

Our first stop was at the Skeleton Shaman pictograph panel, which also happens to be one of my favorites.



Locomotive Point sandstone.



Another damaged but interesting pictograph panel next to the Skeleton Shaman.



We stopped to check out Dutchman Arch.



Diane poses on top of the arch.



We also visited the Feet of Sinbad pictographs. This one looks like it would probably be quite an amazing panel if the top half hadn't broken off.



Driving through a tunnel under I-70.



Next we followed Buckhorn Draw Road to the San Rafael River and stopped to checkout the old Swinging Bridge.

The San Rafael River. It's on my list to float one of these days if I can catch it when it's running high enough...



Diane and I crossing the Swinging Bridge.



Of course we had to stop and checkout the large pictographs at the Buckhorn Wash Panel.



Then we hiked to the Cattle Guard Panel.



View down Buckhorn Wash.



We stopped to visit the popular dinosaur track.



I've been through Buckhorn Wash plenty of times over the years but have never took the time to check out the MK Tunnels before...so we did that.



Next we drove onto The Wedge and setup our camp for the evening. That's where I ran into Steve (@sixstringsteve)



Then we drove up on Cedar Mountain to check out the view from the overlook since I had never been up there before. The overcast sky didn't cooperate today.



We visited a few petroglyph panels at the base of Cedar Mountain along the old railroad grade before returning back to camp.

A cool petroglyph panel at the base of Cedar Mountain.



Silent Sentinel



45 Degree Rock



Cedar Mountain view.



An 1886 inscription at Railroad Rocks.



Driving along the old railroad grade.



When we returned back to The Wedge the evening light started filtering down through openings in the clouds. I grabbed my camera to take advantage of the beautiful light. I ran into my friend Dave (@DAA) at the Little Grand Canyon Overlook, which was a nice surprise.

I climbed down to a white sandstone dome below the main overlook. This is the view looking back up at Diane.



Beautiful light across the canyon.



San Rafael River below.



Amazing light in the Little Grand Canyon.



Did I mention the light was pretty nice this evening?



We had camped at The Wedge so I could try and photograph the sunrise in the morning, but unfortunately the sky didn't cooperate. When my alarm went off on Sunday morning I looked outside and saw that the sky was overcast so I went back to sleep for a little while longer. After waking up a little later we got our camp packed back into the Jeep we set off to do a little hiking and visit a few rock art sites.

Petroglyphs over pictographs.



Barrier Canyon Style paintings viewed through a small arch.



Diane suggested I take a photo through the smaller hole in the sandstone.



One more view of this cool pictograph panel.



Wavy Arms Guy



Red Sheep Panel



Driving along the Molen Reef.



Shadows on the Molen Reef.



View over Spotted Wolf Canyon through the San Rafael Reef on a dusty day.



After having a late lunch at Ray's in Green River we made one last detour on the way home to find a few new pictographs in the Book Cliffs.

While we were at the top of a large talus slope searching for pictographs some stormy weather started rolling in.





We did find a few new pictographs.





Right after taking that last photo the wind really picked up and there was some pretty close lightning, so we hiked back down to the Jeep. It started to rain a little as we started to drive away. We had to dodge numerous tumbleweeds blowing across I-70 as we finished the drive back home.

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[steve]

amazing photos as always. I've never been to the MK tunnels or Cedar Mountain, it's cool to see pictures of them.

 

[uintahiker]

I like the photos of the petroglyphs taken through the small arch.

 

[Yvonne]

I really love all the photos of this trip report.
And I need to spend more time in the Swell, so far I know nothing beside the Wedge. I think I need to go again and try to find a few rock art sites this summer. Love the light you had around sunset at Wedge Overlook and too funny you ran into @sixstringsteve . I missed him by a day last time I was there.

 

[jonmessina]

That last pictograph from the Book Cliffs is great. How large was it?

I've been out to what you call the Skeleton Shaman before, but always seen it referred to as the Head of Sinbad. Where did your name come from?

 

[Laura]

Cool trip and amazing rock art. Especially love the shot of the art taken through two openings. I always look at the pictographs and wonder what the artist was trying to communicate and how long ago, what their life was like, etc. We come through with our cameras and we're essentially doing the same thing they were, just a different means of expression.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

That last pictograph from the Book Cliffs is great. How large was it?

I've been out to what you call the Skeleton Shaman before, but always seen it referred to as the Head of Sinbad. Where did your name come from?

That one in the Book Cliffs was about life-sized. It was pretty big.

The name Skeleton Shaman comes from the book 'Sacred Images' I try to avoid using locations in the names of my photos of rock art online.

 

[DAA]

I like that name anyway - it's nicely descriptive.

- DAA

 

[Glasterpiece]

Great TR. I spent the night at the Cedar Mountain overlook and was treated to a great lightning display.