Nine Mile Canyon
National Backcountry Byway
Personal Notes
This page presents our personal notes on our visits to the Nine Mile Canyon National Backcountry Byway near Wellington, Utah.
| Saturday, October 9, 2004 | |
Saturday, October 9, 2004
We visited Nine Mile Canyon for the first time in the Spring of 1995, placing our travel trailer in an RV park in Price and exploring from there. We enjoyed the day's adventure then, and have always wanted to get back and explore even further. We made it back this past October, and were pleased to find a few improvements, including the addition of two nice picnic areas, with restrooms. But the rock art is essentially unchanged.
Getting There
We headed out from our home at 8:00 a.m. The morning was breezy, partly cloudy, and cool. We drove south on I-15 to Spanish Fork and then took Highway 6 east toward Price. We reached helper at 9:44 a.m. and stopped in Wellington (on the east side of Price) for gas at 10:00 a.m. There is still road construction between Price and Wellington. We then drove to the Nine Mile Canyon kiosk, which is on the east side of the Walker’s Chevron station parking lot. We reset the trip odometer to zero.
Over the course of the day we worked our way through the canyon, stopping at each pictograph/petroglyph panel. We used several sources to locate the main panels. The first 12.9 miles from Wellington is paved. There are several mining operations along this stretch and so there was some heavy truck traffic. But even along this stretch there is some interesting scenery as we moved back into the Book Cliffs.
Once the road turns east and becomes dirt and gravel the scenery gets even better. The canyon starts at an elevation above 7,000 feet and gradually descends along the Minnie Maud Creek to somewhere around 5,000 feet. At 21.1 miles there is a bridge across the creek. About .5 miles farther on there is a BLM sign along the left side of the road that indicates the “official” beginning of the Nine Mile Canyon drive.
Old Homestead and Nine Mile Ranch
At 22.6 miles we passed the Old Homestead, at 10:57 a.m., and the Nine Mile Ranch (23.4 miles) at 11:00 a.m. Shortly after that, at 25.9 miles, we came to the first major petroglyph panel, which is on the left side of the road (as most of the rock art is) and sits behind a log fence. We explored this panel, climbing up along the cliff face and above the main panel to reach a higher panel, from 11:05 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. We traded our Tivas for hiking boots at this point, since we knew we wanted to get up close to as many images as we could.
Nine Mile Canyon Day Use Area
From there we drove to the Nine Mile Canyon Day Use Area, at 27.0 miles, which has restrooms and a picnic area. There are some old weathered farm buildings and fences, an old chimney, and some rusting farm equipment. The picnic area is covered and has five large tables, waste cans, and another table set down near the creek. There are tall trees for shade. It was a pleasant location except for the cool breeze blowing through. We wished (for a change) that at least one of the tables had been set out in the sun. We were in the Day Use Area from 11:50 a.m. until 12:40 p.m.
Harper Ghost Town
After that we continued on down the canyon, past the ghost town of Harper (30.2 miles; 12:54 p.m.; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 036; W 110 22 120) to a spot where we found more petroglyphs (30.5 miles; 12:55 p.m.; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 071; W 110 21 835). This panel’s main feature is what appears to be a man leading a horse.
Pig Head Rock
We passed the Argyle Canyon junction (31.1 miles) at 1:03 p.m. and spotted Pig Head Rock (31.8 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 036; W 110 20 532) at 1:06 p.m. Pig Head Rock is a large balanced rock along the left side of the road. It is very prominent and would be hard to miss unless you were looking across the canyon for some reason. It is on private property, so we stayed in the Trooper.
Harmon Canyon Junction
We came to the Harmon Canyon junction (33.1 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 467; W 110 19 867) at 1:10 p.m. In this area is a 100 yard long rock ledge which is literally covered with rock art. We worked our way along the lower level of panels and when we got to the west end we climbed up and worked our way back to the east along a higher ledge where there were more graphics. This area was also the most heavily crowed with tourists like ourselves; maybe three other couples, and one couple with a young boy. We left this area at 1:46 p.m.
From this point on we had to watch closely because there were many small clusters of graphics here and there on the rocks. While Anne drove I spotted art work.
Fremont Indian Site
Eventually we came to an area where there are a group of cottonwood trees on the right side of the road (37.3 miles; 2:20 p.m.; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 535; W 110 15 735). On the rock outcrops on the left side of the road, if you look closely near the top of the ridge, you will note stacks of rocks which are part of a Fremont Indian site containing a pit house and water basins. Across the river from the pit house, high up on a low ridge, you can see the remains of a watch tower. All of this is difficult to make out because the Fremont used native stone. But Nature does not pile stones evenly, so look for stacks of rocks that look slightly out of place with the surrounding lay of the land.
We took a photo of a pictograph man at 2:28 p.m. and we passed Nutter’s Ranch (37.5 miles) at 2:44 p.m. Then we passed the junction with Gate Canyon (38.0 miles), which is the road to Myton, Utah.
Centipede Panels
At 2:50 p.m. we crossed a cattle guard and stopped in a turn-out to view several more petroglyph panels which were on both sides of the guard (38.1 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 48 631; W 110 14 918). This site contained a centipede, and elk, and many other figures.
Granary
A short ways farther on we came to a place (40.6 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 47 769; W 110 12 784) where we had to sight down the road to the east and look up about 300 feet on the cliff face on the left to spot a well preserved granary. Also there was another watch tower across the river. But this one was much more difficult to see. The piled rocks seem to be more scattered. We left there at 3:15 p.m.
Two minutes later, at 3:17 p.m. and 41.1 miles, we were in position again to look up a steep cliff face where we spotted another granary. This one was more difficult to spot, but with the help of our binoculars we could see it.
We passed the junction with Prickly Pear Canyon (41.2 miles) at 3:19 p.m.
The Mummy
At 3:25 p.m. (43.1 miles) we spotted the rock formation known as The Mummy. The Sun was behind it, so we saw it in silhouette, and it sure does look like an Egyptian mummy’s sarcophagus. At 3:27 p.m. we passed the junction with Dry Canyon.
Rassmussuen's Cave
At 3:30 p.m. (43.5 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 47 165; W 110 10 121) we reached the area where we could see what we believe to be Rassmussuen’s Cave, which is a large alcove. This alcove contains several very large pictographs, the largest being what looks to be a red deer. But apparently the site is privately owned and the property owner has stenciled, in large black letters, right across the large red deer, “No Trespassing. Private Property. Keep out.” What an ass. The owner could have posted a sign or painted the lettering on the smooth sandstone above the image, but they destroyed the art with the lettering. I would think this would be a Federal crime, breaking the Antiquities Act. There were also several white painted images of deer or elk. I walked up to take photos, in spite of the notice, but didn’t spend much time there.
There was also a smaller cave just to the east that had some nice images as well.
Daddy Canyon Recreation Site
We came to the Daddy Canyon Recreation Site at 3:39 p.m. (43.7 miles; GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39. 47 135; W 110 10 004) and stayed until 4:15 p.m. This site seems to be under construction, but it does have restrooms and a couple of picnic tables. But everything is exposed at this point, sitting in a wide spot in the canyon. There is also a .75 mile trail along the cliffs in the area, where there are a good number of interesting graphics. The trail is just sort of sketched in at this point and is obviously under construction. There are wooden stakes and surveyor's flagging all along the path. There is also a horse corral at this location.
Cottonwood Canyon
We passed the turn-off to the Cottonwood Canyon Road (44.6 miles) at 4:20 p.m. and continued on down Nine Mile Canyon. We were looking for a petroglyph panel of men, women, a turkey, a scorpion, a bird, and abstract sketches. But we couldn’t locate them. We continued on until we came to a closed gate across the road and so turned back. It was 4:30 p.m.
At 4:43 p.m. we were back at the turn-off to Cottonwood Canyon. There were two large water trucks wetting down the dust on that side road. The entire road through the canyon was very dry and dusty, and the Trooper and everything inside had gotten covered with a fine powdery dust. Now we were driving on a very wet, muddy surface. The mud caked up under the wheel wells and along the bottom of the vehicle. We waited for a while to let the trucks get ahead, but they were moving very slowly. We saw other vehicles passing them, so we went on ahead.
Fremont Village
We could not spot the exact location of a supposed Fremont village in this area (GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 47 051; W 110 08 219). The day was running out, so we didn’t get out and look. We went on up the road past the Hunter Panel because there was a large, noisy family there (whom we had encountered at the Daddy Canyon Recreation Site as well). They looked like they were about to leave, so we went on to the last site along the Cottonwood Canyon Road and worked our way back.
Burial Site
This site is supposed to be a burial site with petroglyphs. If we were in the right place we didn’t see any signs of a burial. We were 1.5 miles ups the road (GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 46 652; W 110 08 120), at 4:58 p.m. We turned around and headed back to the Hunter Panel.
The Hunter Panel
We arrived at 4:59 (GPS Coordinates (NAD83): N 39 46 801; W 110 08 116). The loud family was just leaving. We walked along the cliff face and took several photos. There are some round pictographs here as well. Very unusual. The Hunter Panel is very famous because of the large human figure carrying a bow and arrow, facing a large number of bighorn sheep. We were in this area until 5:12 p.m.
Heading Out
From there we headed back down the Cottonwood Road and back onto the Nine Mile Canyon Road. We wanted to see one more panel, up Dry Canyon, but that side road was flooded by the Minnie Maud Creek. So we called it a day at 5:23 p.m. and headed back toward Price. Of course the Sun was low in the sky and to the west and shown right into our eyes.
Along the way we encountered a work truck stopped along the side of the road. Two men were standing there and requested us to stop. Apparently their truck had broken down on their way in from a day’s work on a gas line up Cottonwood Canyon. We gave one of the fellows a lift to the Nine Mile Ranch. But along the way we came upon a county sheriff headed into the canyon. We stopped him and he was able to take care of the stranded guys for us. We went on our way, feeling like we had done a good deed.
As we got closer to Wellington, along the paved part of the road, we spotted several dark colored mule deer down in the creek bottom. Then, just before we reached Wellington, we spotted maybe two dozen mule deer bedding down in a field. They were the only critters we saw all day, other than a couple lizards, a few hawks, and some squirrels.
