Directions

We were on our way north after a visit to the Moab area, and decided to stop and see the Sego Rock Art Panels and the old ghost town of Sego. We were heading north on Highway 191 when we reached Crescent Junction. Instead of taking Interstate 70, we took the access road (which I believe is the old US Highway 6) to Thompson Springs. This was maybe a three mile drive. Once in town, we turned north on the main street and headed off toward Thompson Canyon on a paved road.

Eventually the road veers to the right up Sego Canyon, and there are small signs to lead the way. We passed a couple of isolated old houses and an old cemetery and just as the pavement ended, about three miles from Thompson Springs, we found ourselves at the Sego Rock Art Panels parking area.

Sego Rock Art Panels

9:06 a.m.
We finished viewing the Sego Rock Art Panels are at GPS coordinates 39 01.070N; 109 42.613W; at an elevation of 5,537 feet. There is a good sized parking area with vault toilets but no water. There are interpretive signs.

The first panel you will notice is the pictographs of the Historic Ute culture. There are human figures in what look to be buckskin shirts and red pants, horses, bison, bows and arrows, and several round shields.

From there a short trail leads through the tall sage to a Fremont/Anasazi panel of a variety of petroglyphs. There are quite a few characters presented here. Around the corner of the same large cliff is a fantastic Barrier Canyon Style panel. There are a large number of humanoid pictographs with lots of color. Some of these figures have the googly eyes and antennae that make them look like space aliens. There is even one small figure that, in this context, looks like a Buck Rogers type space ship. It may actually be a representation of a spear point. Who knows?

There are also several pictographs and petroglyphs across the road, near a corral. There has been quite a bit of modern graffiti and vandalism added to this second group of images, but they are well worth investigating. There are also some Navajo blanket style geometric patterns visible on one of the smaller panels.

Before we left we noticed that there is also a natural arch across the road from the parking area. It is one of those more or less horizontal arches that is not obvious until the sun shines just right, revealing the gap in the sandstone.

From the rock art panels we drove about a mile farther up the gravel road to the ghost town of Sego.

Sego Ghost Town

See our Personal Notes on the Sego Ghost Town and Sego Cemetery.