Sand Island Recreation Area
Personal Notes
This page presents our personal notes on our visits to the Sand Island Recreation Area in southern Utah.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
1:40 p.m.
We stopped at Sand Island for a picnic lunch, down by the San Juan River, at the same place we used a couple of weeks back on our Blanding Trip. The river looks to be down a bit from that earlier visit.
After we finished eating we used the vault toilet and cleaned up at the water faucet, which is near the restrooms near the picnic area and the boat launch.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
9:52 a.m.
The turnoff for the BLM’s Sand Island Campground and Boat Launch site is just east of highway marker 22, just a few miles west of Bluff. The road into the site is signed as San Juan County Road 275. The road is paved and can be found along the south (left) side of the highway, coming from Bluff. It was 59 degrees out.
9:54 a.m.
There is a Ranger Station, campground, modern vault toilets, and drinking water, in addition to information kiosks, a boat launch area, and covered picnic tables along the river.
10:04 a.m.
The petroglyph panel in the Sand Island Recreation Area looks to be something over 100 feet long, and it is protected behind a chain link fence. There is a small parking area across from the marked trailhead for the panel.
10:53 a.m.
When we finished viewing and photographing the panel it was 60 degrees out. It’s pretty neat panel, and reminds me of Newspaper Rock, in that it’s surfaces are, in many places, literally covered with petroglyphs. The main difference is that this site is much larger and has a greater number of examples and is no doubt older. These are Ancestral Puebloan images which include the usual desert big horns, kokopelli, lots of odd little objects, thunderbirds, and all sorts of other interesting figures.
After visiting the panel we ate lunch at one of the covered tables while watching a large group of rafters prepare to launch into the San Juan River.
