Hog Spring

Hog spring is much more than a nice picnic area next to the highway. There are two hidden gems here that few know about. One is a hike to a spring-fed pool and the other is a very nice specimen of Barrier-style pictographs, known as the Cleopatra panel just south of the Hog Spring parking area.

It is a really scenic drive through the North Wash canyon bottom along Utah’s Bicentennial Scenic Byway Highway 95 to get to Hog Spring.

According to local stories, a miner borrowed a bulldozer from the highway department and carved the first road through North Wash, connecting Hanksville to Hite. True or not the road is very scenic and worth taking.

The entrance to Hog Spring across the bridge

Getting there

From Hanksville drive south on UT-95 for about 33 miles, the Hog Spring picnic area is on the west or right-hand side of the road.

Parking

37.962778, -110.491389

A large paved parking lot

Note

Has bathrooms
30-minute hike to a spring-fed pool
Cleopatra rock art panel

Hike to the Hog Spring pool

Distance

2 miles round trip out and back

Note

Watch out for mosquitoes and poison ivy at the pool
There’s one fork on the trail, it is just before you get to the pools, when you reach it stay to the right

Route

Cross the wash on the suspended bridge, continue up the sidewalk to the marked trail sign, and follow the sandy trail west as it follows the stream up Hog Canyon. You will pass a couple of small pools before reaching Hog Spring and its largest pool at ( 37.964722, -110.507500 ).

Cleopatra rock art panel

From the parking lot of Hog Springs, you can drive or walk south about 1000 feet. There is room to pull off along the road then just look for trails leading to the cliff face and the large alcove on the right across the highway when facing south. Cross the wash to find the trails, follow them right to the artwork in the alcove. The panel is on the left end high up in the alcove at ( 37.961111, -110.488611 ). This pictograph is sometimes referred to as the “Moki Maiden” or “Cleopatra”.

There is another panel almost directly across the highway at the bottom of the cliff face located at ( 37.962500, -110.488056 ).

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Hog Spring – Hike

Hog Springs is a nice rest stop and picnic area next to the highway with a short scenic hike that takes you to a spring-fed pool and the Cleopatra rock art panel is also close by

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