Vernal Day 1: Petroglyphs & Pictographs

Last weekend we took a 48-hour (exactly) trip, driving about 3 hours almost due east to Vernal, Utah.  This area is known as Dinosaurland for its many paleontological discoveries.  The unique geology of the area makes it extra interesting - on a stretch of road less than 40 miles long you can literally see (labeled with signs) rock formations that date from all of the major prehistoric time periods.

We left as soon as Ben was finished with work on Friday and arrived in Vernal in the evening with just enough daylight to hike at McConkie Ranch, where there are tons of petroglyphs and some pictographs on the mountainside.  The art is 800+ years old, done by the Fremont people.  Many are at eye-level, and some are just above, but it was so fun to see them and conjecture on their meaning and significance.  There are two major trails of petroglyphs.  We only had time for the main trail, so that means next time we'll go back and see the Three Kings trail.  This is an interesting article about the ancient art at McConkie Ranch.

See if you can spot the rock art in these pictures - some are easier to see than others!

We thought this one looked like he needed to use the bathroom.

This one reminded me of stick-figure-family bumper stickers.

Can you spot the hunter and the bear way up there?

Zoomed in it's a little easier to see.

We found Big Foot!

Beautiful scenery + sunset

So cool to see cactus growing on rocks.