Travel-Curious

Travel Curious

For independent travelers who want to dig deeper

Buckhorn Wash Pictographs

See rock art on 100-foot panels in Buckhorn Wash, with pictographs painted by the Barrier Canyon culture 2000 years ago and petroglyphs pecked into the rock by Fremont Indians 1000 years ago.

 

Buckhorn Wash Green River Utah artwork behind the fences

 

The Buckhorn Wash panels run over 100 feet behind a stone and wood fence that keeps visitors at a safe distance from the artwork.

 

The art is from two distinct cultures that have inhabited the area. You will see pictographs thought to have been painted by the Barrier Canyon culture at least 2000 years ago and newer petroglyphs believed to have been pecked into the rock by Fremont Indians about 1000 years ago.

 

The route up Buckhorn Wash was part of the Old Spanish Trail, so it was well-traveled and the artwork was well-known, as a result over the last 150 years the panels were repeatedly vandalized and marked with graffiti. But in 1996 the State of Utah undertook a massive restoration project as part of Utah’s centennial celebration. Bullet holes, scrapes, and chiseled gouges were filled in and disguised with watercolors and pastels to match the sandstone. Paint and chalk were removed with special erasers and jewelers’ tools. Today the artwork is amazing to see.

 

Getting to Buckhorn Wash

  • From Green River take I-70 west about 30 miles, to exit 131. Take the exit, turning right. This road goes east, paralleling the freeway for a couple of miles before turning north.
  • Follow this road 19 miles to the San Rafael campground, and cross the bridge over the San Rafael River. Note the cattle guard at ( 39.083056, -110.663889 ) you immediately cross after the bridge, this marks the lower end of Buckhorn Wash.

 

The swinging bridge next to the car bridge was built in 1937 by the CCC, it was once the only bridge over the San Rafael River until the 1990s, the signs at the bridge say it is the only remaining suspension bridge in Utah. Before the building of the bridge, crossing the San Rafael River was treacherous.

Ranchers running sheep across the suspension bridge in Buckhorn Wash
Ranchers running sheep across the suspension bridge

The old bridge over the San Rafael River

 

From the cattle guard set your odometer to zero and continue 3.8 miles to the Buckhorn Wash Panels on your right, you can’t miss it, there is a huge fenced-in area with a parking area, bathrooms, and information signs

Buckhorn Wash Green River Utah

 

Note

  • The road is gravel and sometimes a little paved and is easily passable by cars, The route becomes more scenic the further you go with many buttes and rocky canyon walls rising around you.
  • Binoculars for viewing the rock art
  • The Wedge Overlook and the Furniture Draw Canyon hike is nearby and easy to combine with your visit to Buckhorn Wash

 

 

Interpretive signs tell the story of the artwork in Buckhorn Wash

Close up of the artwork

Barrier Canyon close up

One of the interpretive signs shows the graffiti and damage that was removed
One of the interpretive signs shows the graffiti and damage that was removed

Close up of details

interpretive signs shows the graffiti and damage that was removed
One of the interpretive signs shows the graffiti and damage that was removed

 

Restored

 

5.3 miles from the South cattle guard
Matt Warner, a cattle thief and bandit who roamed this area and when he wasn’t hiding out in Robbers Roost Canyon, took the time to write his name high up the cliff on the right-hand side of the road. It is interesting he didn’t know how to spell his first name correctly.

Matt Warner signature, a cattle thief and bandit who roamed this area and when he wasn't hiding out in Robbers Roost Canyon

 

7.2 miles from the South cattle guard
Look for a signed pullout on the right. Take the 5-minute walk on the well-defined path toward the cliff base in front of you. There’s an obvious main rock art area and a second panel about 100 ft to the right that most people will miss the 2nd one.

Walking up to the site on the trail

The pictograph site from a distance

The pictograph hunting scene

The pictograph hunting scene with deer and elk

The pictograph of holding hands

View of the stick people

The 2nd Panel
The 2nd Panel

 

 

8.0 miles from the South cattle guard ( 39.160508, -110.729179 )
A small pullout on the right with a sign marks the short trail ascending up one level of slick rock, follow it for two minutes and there is a dinosaur track, hard to miss, look for the circle of rocks around it.

A ring of stones indicates the dinosaur track

Close up of the dinosaur track

A grand view at sunset of the rock formations of the canyon

Explore Nearby...

Hikes...

Rochester Rock Art Panel

A short hike leads to a boulder on an overlook with hundreds of petroglyphs chipped into the desert varnish from the Fremont Culture dating back to at least 1300 AD

Horseshoe Canyon – Hike

Once known as barrier canyon, it contains rock art that gave name to the barrier canyon style of artwork, contained in four galleries including the Great Ghost.

Goblin Valley State Park Utah

Goblin Valley State Park

The park contains thousands of mushroom-shaped (goblins). You can walk amongst the hoo-doos, there are hiking trails and a cave on the back side of the valley called the Goblin’s Lair

Scenic Drives...

Nine Mile Canyon Utah

Nine Mile Canyon – Scenic Drive

A forty-mile long canyon drive with the highest concentration of rock art in the world, with an estimated 10,000 individual artworks from Archaic, Fremont, and Ute Indians

Buckhorn Wash Green River Utah

Buckhorn Wash

Rock art on 100 foot panels. See pictographs painted by the Barrier Canyon culture 2000 years ago and petroglyphs pecked into the rock by Fremont Indians 1000 years ago.

Wedge Overlook

Called “Utah’s Little Grand Canyon”. There are multiple overlooks 1000 feet above the San Rafael River and canyons below you, each one gives you a different vista.

Everything Else...

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Crystal Geyser

Crystal Geyser is a CO2 geyser created accidentally in 1935 by an oil drilling rig.

Temple Mountain Pictograph

Significant because it contains some of the largest prehistoric painted figures in Utah. The largest image in its current condition is about 6 feet tall.

Lone Warrior Panel Green River Utah

Lone Warrior panel

The Lone Warrior is the main feature, but there are some petroglyphs, some signatures with dates and some sharpening grooves carved into the base of the cliff to see also.

Head of Sinbad / Locomotive Point

On the south side of a locomotive-shaped rock formation, are amazing Barrier Canyon Style pictographs so pristine they look like they were painted yesterday

Dutchman Arch

Visit a small but picturesque arch you can walk inside of or climb right on top of

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Swasey Cabin

Visit Joseph Swasey’s 1921 cabin. The Swasey brothers, Joe, Sid, Rod, and Charley were some of the earliest pioneers of the San Rafael Swell and many local landmarks bear their names.

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