CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS FOR FIREPLACE

I have seen hundreds of bighorn sheep depicted with rock art but never any deer pictographs or petrhogylphs. I had always wondered "why?". So I was happy to find at least two deer on the Procession Panel. They must have been an important food source for these hunters, gatherers, and farmers.

There must have been close to 100 little people pecked into the desert varnish rock, and forming a sinuous procession that appeared to be heading right to left or east to west. This procession panel of "little people" had some deer petroglyphs and stylized anthromorphs, snakes, and track petroglyphs below the little people procession panel.

I spent quite a long time observing and photographing these interesting petroglyphs and the more you looked, the more you saw.

In the little people procession panel there were many of the figures "waving" with stylized right hands; at least three who appeared to be carrying a sheepherder's "cane" and one of my favorites, a procession line little people.....backpacker. It was fascinating.

Two figures, one of the deer and an anthromorph had what looked like a "snake" extending out in an unreal connection. In the case of the one deer, from its tail and from the man figure, from his hand.

It is fun to try, to no avail, to imagine what the artist was trying to convey, capture, or accomplish with each and all of these rock art figures. I didn't see any pictographs at this site. All rock art appeared to be petroglyphs.
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When I reached the trailhead for my hike up Comb Ridge to the Procession Panel petroglyphs, I met two nice couples who said the route was well marked but that I should stay low instead of follow my natural instinct to quickly gain the panel wall base.

When I got the last cairn, my natural instict was to climb up to the base of what I thought to be the panel wall and hike it until I reached the Procession Panel petroglyphs.

I decided to drop down and follow a trail I saw up through the sandy scrub to the slickrock. It brought be to a beautifl view over the top of Comb Ridge, through a slickrock notch, but I knew then that I would either have to drop back down the grade to where I had left the last cairn OR carefully climb directly up the ledges under the panel wall. I used my GPS just to make certain the panel was where I thought it was, then climbed the ledges, coming out right below the Procession Panel petroglyphs.

I thoroughly enjoyed the variety and some of the "unique" styles of petroglyphs in this well preserved and interesting petroglyph site.

I took lots of photos, then returned down the panel wall cliff base, finding many old and worn petroglyphs to admire, along the way.

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May 12th through May 19th - - I traveled 9 states in 8 days, camping, driving back roads, visiting scenic and historic sites, and taking some great day hikes. These are some of the photographs from this solo "road trip".

Day One: Home in Eastern Washington; Mountain Home, Idaho; Owyhee, Nevada and a very cold night camped at Wild Horse Crossing south of Mountain City, Nevada.

Day two: NEVADA - - Mountain City; Elko; Wells; Ely (through a snow storm); Panaca. UTAH - - Enterprise, Veyo, to a warm and scenic enjoyable camp and hiking at Snow Canyon.

Day three: UTAH - - Snow Canyon; St. George; Hurricane; to Fredonia, Arizona. Forest Service Road #22 and many others to places like Monument Point and Indian Hollow. Too cold to camp (got down to 19 degrees that night), so dropped down low to BLM wilderness land off 89 A and spent the night among sagebrush and juniper with curious mule deer as "neighbors".

Day four: Opening day of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Visited the park and arriving early had many places (Cape Royal), entirely to myself. ARIZONA: Vermillion Cliffs; Page; Kaibito; and Navajo National Monument and Betatakin, where I had my nicest camp site (Canyon View at Betatakin).

Day five: Betatakin camp to Kayenta; Monument Valley to drive the 17 mile "loop road" through the monument; to Mexican Hat to recharge my camera battery (Canon G10) while eating Navajo stew and fry bread at a cafe along the San Juan River; to Comb Ridge where I took two short enjoyable "rock art and cliff dwelling" hikes (procession panel and Monarch Cave ruins; up to Blanding, Utah where I checked into a small motel for two nights.

Day six: Get up early and hike a bit over 14 miles down Kane Gulch; down Grand Gulch to Todie Canyon, with many side excursions to visit cliff dwellings, granaries, rock art sites, etc. Weather started to blow in by the time I finished my hike.

Day seven: Changed my mind with the weather. Instead of heading for the Bisti Wilderness (for the first time) and Chaco Canyon (for the third time) - - I headed north through Moab then turned east toward Grand Junction, Colorado. Stopped at Sego Canyon rock art site

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I went to Milagros in Redwood City for lunch with some of our new hires and after we sat down, I excused myself to use the restroom. I walked inside and was immediately enamored by the poster of a man holding a parrot. "That's a strange poster for a bathroom." It wasn't until I finished and walked to the sink that I saw a GIANT DEER matted on the mirror, engaging in a "who-can-do-the-best-stoic-stare" contest. Bambi was making sure I cleaned my hands... and boy did I.

You never mess with a lavatory deer.