Round Trip Distance: 0.3 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6002 - 6021 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 20 mins.
Trailhead: Big Warrior
Fee: none
Attractions: Petroglyphs
The Big Warrior Panel trail is located in the Crow Canyon Archaeological District near Bloomfield, New Mexico. Crow Canyon is located in an area the Navajo people call Dinétah which means 'among the Navajo' or 'among the people'. This is the area the Navajo people consider to be their ancestral homeland. The Crow Canyon Archaeological District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Getting to the trailhead requires about 20 miles of off highway driving for which a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle is recommended for crossing Largo Wash. Travel east on Highway 64 from Bloomfield for about 8.5 miles and turn south on Country Road 4450 a little past the town of Blanco. Follow 4450 as it crosses Largo Wash on the 5 Mile bridge and continue for a total distance from the pavement of just under 19 miles. At this point there is a sign for Crow Canyon. Reset your odometer and turn left here. The road heads toward Largo Wash to where it makes a crossing. During wet weather this is a spot where a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle may be needed. After crossing the wash turn left and continue driving until you have measured about a half mile from County Road 4450. Turn right at this point and within another mile park along the road near the Big Warrior sign.
There is one trail marker near the road but after that you have to more or less pick your route through the brush.
The trail seems to disappear at the wash. The most direct route to the fenced area of the Big Warrior Panel is a little to the left. After crossing the wash head toward the southwest, or lower left hand, corner of the fence where you will find a walk through. There are also petroglyphs along the cliff to the east of the fenced area so we headed there first by going to the right at the wash.
There seems to be a lot of symbolism in this particular panel. It all appears to have been inscribed at the same point in time but some of it is very faded.
Tracing it on the computer helps a little but there is even more detail that is just too faded to discern. The nice thing is that if we ever come across a similar panel that uses the same symbols we might be able to at least get a better idea by comparing them.
These are some of the same deities or kachinas seen at the Main Panel site and at other locations.
And not least of all is the Big Warrior sites eponymous panel.
