9 Mile Canyon

A few days ago, I took a quick trip north to an archaeological site that I had wanted to visit for years, ever since I became involved in archaeology when I lived in Colorado.  It turns out that the time and driving distance was about equal from either Cortez or Cedar City.  For whatever reason, I decided to travel there this year before the weather got too hot.  Coincidentally, my remote viewing teacher Paul Smith and his family took a trip there the week before.  His Smith ancestors came from that area. 

So I am talking about 9 Mile Canyon, a world famous and lengthy canyon that features Fremont Indian rock art dating from about 700 to 1300 A.D.  The canyon is east of Price, UT, and goes through a geological formation called the Book Cliffs.

All in all, for the 2 days and one overnight of the trip I drove 610 miles.  Lots of driving, but worth it. 

To get into the canyon, I drove about 28 miles along a 2 lane road through desert scrub.  My first stop was a picnic area on the site of an old homestead with an outhouse and picnic tables under a shelter. 

Then on to the rock art, which was spread out here and there along the next 20 miles.  I had a good map and drove from pull out to pull out, parked, and photographed the rock art.  Towards the end of the route, it started to rain a bit, but even that felt good as it has been very dry in my area.  Here is a sampling of the fabulous rock art that I saw.

This panel is called "Coyote placing the stars".  It depicts Coyote taking the stars out of his bag and creating the Milky Way.  

More rock art.

This petroglyph shows that these ancient people had dogs!

Here is a traditional anthropomorphic figure of a human. 

I felt that time was running short at this point, so I bypassed some of the other sites and drove directly to the last and most important site on the road, called the Great Hunt.  It had also started to rain a bit.

This petroglyph is probably the most photographed one in the whole state of Utah.  It depicts the annual fall hunt when the bighorn sheep, rams, ewes and lambs, gather for the fall mating activity.  A perfect time to hunt!  You can see the hunters with their bows and arrows on the right side.  Below is a close up of ewes and their lambs.

It is clear that the mammal that was mostly hunted was the desert big horn sheep.  During the early days of the Fremont, there were some bison present through the canyon to the east.

A nice panel at the Daddy Canyon Complex.

My last stop of the day upon doubling back was one of my favorites.  The great horned owl has always been a dear being to me, especially going back to my shamanic practice.  This panel featured several owls in addition to other beings.  Fabulous!!!

What a long day!  I started out from Cedar City at 7:30 AM, and finished up at 9 Mile Canyon around 4:30 PM, getting to Price and my hotel at about 6 PM.  

The next day, I visited the very excellent Natural History Museum in Price, which was just down the street from my hotel.  The specialty of this museum is the display of all of the dinosaurs that have been unearthed in Utah.  It was mind boggling, there were so many!

On the way back home, I took a different route that took me east of the main highway going south, and then over the mountain back to Cedar City.  Much to my surprise, while driving through a pretty dusty agricultural and cattle ranching area, Circleville, I passed a historical site that was Butch Cassidy's childhood home!  I did not stop, but here is a photo that I snagged off of the internet.  Who would have thought!  Undoubtedly, he came from a Mormon family.