We visited the Dinosaur National Park a few days ago, but one area that contains petroglyphs was closed due to a fire that occurred the night before we visited. So, we returned yesterday to view the petroglyphs. It was very interesting to see them. The petroglyphs have been dated to approx. 1,000 years ago and are from the Fremont people that lived in the area at that time. Most could be seen from the road or by hiking a very short distance which was convenient.

We also visited another petroglyph area near Vernal that is on private land owned by the McConkie family. We got a brochure about it that stated this was ‘a concentration of some of the best and most easily accessible Native American art to be found anywhere’.

Well, as to being easily access accessible – I find that statement debatable. We climbed up a hillside about 200 feet, then wound our way along the hillside at the base of some very interesting cliffs for about a mile, scrambling over and around rocks on several occasions and up and down some bare dirt embankments that were quite slippery. But, the artwork was worth the hike! Because it’s on private land there was some graffiti in places, and I’m unsure about some of the art that was scratched into the cliffs…it looked too modern! But, all in all a very interesting hike. Here are some pictures we took from both areas: