Arches National Park Rock Art

A cairn found in Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park.

Frank and Anne's Canyon Country Hiking and Camping Notebook.

Arches National Park

Campsite

Ancient Ruins and Rock Art

This page contains a discussion of the rock art found within Arches National Park. All photographs are from our our personal collection. If you'd like to see more rock art from this location, or if you'd like to see higher resolution or larger images, send us an e-mail message and we'll see what we can do.

Rock Art

Arches National Park is not known for its rock art, but there are a few examples near Wolfe Ranch, within the main part of the Park, near the Delicate Arch parking area, and on the southwestern boundary of the Park, above the bridge where Highway 191 crosses Courthouse Wash.

See Archaeological Site Etiquette.
See American Antiquities Act of 1906.
See Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
Archaeological Resources Protection Act Hotline: 800-227-7286.

Wolfe Ranch Panel

This small panel can be found at Map Coordinates (NAD83): ~ 38 44.279 N; 109 31.15 W; at an elevation of 4,336. This panel is near Wolfe Ranch, not far from the parking area along the trail to Delicate Arch. There are signs pointing the way.

This photo represents most of the single panel of petroglyphs. Because of the horses with riders this is probably of a more recent age than some work that we see in the Colorado Plateau area. Horses weren't reintroduced into North America until the Spanish brought them in the 1500s. So some or all of this work was performed by historic natives of this region.

Courthouse Wash Panel

The Courthouse Wash Panel is located about .5 miles from the Courthouse Wash Trailhead, just south of the Highway 191 bridge over the wash, high up among the cliffs. See our Personal Notes for detailed directions. The GPS Coordinates for this panel are: 38 36.339N; 109 34.820W; at an elevation of 4,163 feet. This site is on the National Registry of Historical Places.

There has been considerable damage to this panel, with the usual carved names and general abuse. In addition, it looks as if someone has taken a steel brush to many of the images, apparently in an attempt to erase them from existence. It's hard to imagine why a person would be so selfish and thoughtless. Considering the location, I have some thoughts, but I will keep them to myself.

This image is one of many Barrier Canyon style pictographs that appear on this panel. Some of the images here are difficult to see, especially in direct sunlight. Because the panel faces southwest, it may be best to visit the site in the late morning, while the panel is still in the shadows. Photography of the images is best when they are either completely in or out of the sun. A significant portion of the panel, with some of the better images, was partially in shadow when we visited.

This image has been enhanced to bring out its features.

This portion of the panel has been enhanced to bring out the images, which have been heavily scratched with a wire brush and have obvious lettering over them. It also looks as if some of the figures have been chalked to bring out their shape. Also notice that there are several Anasazi/Fremont style petroglyphs carved in over the Barrier Canyon style images. This is a mixed panel, with all of the Barrier Canyon pictograph images on the vertical wall and most of the Anasazi/Fremont petroglyphs on a large, tilted, separated slab with a darker desert varnish at the base of the panel.

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More Rock Art

The following images are all from the Courthouse Wash Panel, unless otherwise noted.

All of these photos have been resized and manipulated in Photoshop to give the best representation of the image. Some color distortion is inevitable. If you would like to see higher quality versions of these shots, or if you would like to use these images for any purpose, please contact us and we would be glad to help if we can.

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This page was last updated Saturday, November 8, 2008

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