Has it been that long???

Hey, do you remember that one time I didn't blog for over a year?

I cant believe that it has been so long since I posted anything. I guess I had a blog block or something like that. Others have posted about the wonderful family reunion we had at Ponderosa, so I won't say anything about that other than it was a wonderful experience. It was so much fun to be with the family, to do some geocaching, hiking, eating, and to enjoy everyone's company.

The most recent adventure has been a trip to the Southern Utah to explore pictographs petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints. I have put in a few pictures and will explain a tiny bit about each one. Our "tour" was conducted by a friend I used to work with who lives in Cedar City. Our first stop was at the "lion's mouth" cave west of Cedar city where we saw a collection of beautiful pictographs. Our next stop was at the "Parawan gap" where we saw numerous petroglyphs. Scattered over the rocks there were hundreds off glyphs and every place you looked you saw a new one. One that is especially interesting has been interpreted as the astronomical marker relating to the solstice. I understand that each year a number of people gather at the gap to celebrate the event and to see where the sunlight shines in distinctive ways on the petroglyphs.

Lion's Mouth Cave pictograph

Parawan Gap petroglyph

Our next stop led us to a rather strenuous 3/4 mile hike to the top of the cliffs overlooking Cedar city where we saw an unusual glyph which has no resemblance to American Indian petroglyphs typically found in the Western United States. There are fewer than 30 such glyphs that have been identified. They are located in several Western states and are most likely created by members of the John Fremont expedition as they passed to this area. I had previously seen a petroglyph with similar characters in the mountains east of Fillmore, Utah. It is difficult to see the characters. I have added a photo of the Fillmore glyph that I have edited to make the characters more legible
Cedar City "Fremont" glyph.

Fillmore "Fremont" glyph.

After a good night's rest (Thank you Lisa and Craig) we went to two sites with another unusual type of glyph. These glyphs are commonly called "water glyphs ". For an interesting discussion about these glyphs go to www.waterglyphs.org where you will find several theories about them. These glyphs are nearly always found on horizontal surfaces with the long "tail" part running to the edge, of the rock. The tails are usually 2 to 3 feet long, and the circular part is usually 18 to 30 inches in diameter. Waterglyph at Bullrush seep.

They are carved unusually deep into the rock, and if you pour water in the circular part it slowly drains into the tail and over the edge of the rock. We saw several of these glyphs in different places, and at one spot, we found a Spanish cross carved into the rock. The horizontal line at the bottom indicates the direction of travel. This cross was probably created by members of the Escalante/Dominguez expedition as they passed through this area.


We were told about one glyph that is on the cliffs over looking the town of Orderville. Our guide had not seen it but he gave us the best description he could of where it might be found. We parted ways and decided to try our luck in Orderville. We took a strenuous hike to the top of a cliff overlooking the town and much to our surprise and delight found the "missing" water glyph!
Another strenuous hike to the bottom of the cliff and we were on our way back to the house.

Before we left Ponderosa to head home, we had another fun surprise. We looked out the window and found a small herd of deer wandering through the backyard. There was a four-point buck and several does. The picture taken through the window does not do full justice to the scene we saw. But at least it gives you an idea.

We headed home after a couple of days of fascinating exploring thinking that it would be hard to find anything more exciting than this experience. How wrong I was! Within minutes of arriving at home we were thrilled to get word of the arrival of a new grandson. Congratulations to Cristin and Pete and family we are looking forward to seeing you in a few days..