Round Trip Distance: 1.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5057 - 5098 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: 40.32389, -109.24440
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Pregnant Sheep Panel is located near the Musket Shot Springs Overlook between Jensen, Utah and Dinosaur, Colorado. The site includes a number of Vernal Style petroglyphs that are located high up on a cliff only a short distance from the highway.
To get there drive 6 miles east from Jensen or 13.7 miles west from Dinosaur and turn north onto an unmarked road. At the fork in the road go left where you will shortly pass a corral. For turn-by-turn directions you can enter the GPS coordinates, 40.320230, -109.242716, for the coral into your driving app. If you use the coordinates for the trailhead you will probably be led off onto the Bourdette Draw Road where it expects you to hike back across the wash.
When you get to the corral take the route that heads toward the point of the cliffs on your left about a quarter of a mile away.
The road splits again when you get to the first rocky outcrop. There is room for about 1 vehicle to park at this point. Another option would be to park back near the corral, or somewhere in between, and begin hiking from there.
As you hike along between the cliffs and the wash on your right you will come to a fence with a makeshift gate. Be sure to close the gate after passing through.
When we were there taking photos for this post there was a brand new brown mylar marker with a 'Who Passed This Way' sticker on it reminding visitors of the proper etiquette when visiting archeological sites.
A short distance past that you can spot the Pregnant Sheep Panel high up on the cliff above the trail. To the right on another portion of the cliff there is another large panel of images.
The guy with the wavy arms appears to be waving hello to everyone. To the right is the image of a bighorn sheep with another sheep inside of it for which the panel gets its name.
The panel to the right has some very large warrior looking anthropomorphic images and several large concentric circles.
We have gotten the impression that there are a large number of petroglyphs to be found in this area as a whole so we decided to hike another hundred yards or so to see if we could spot any and found some on the large boulder in this photo.
These are a couple of the half dozen or so images on the boulder.
The Pregnant Sheep Panel had received a lot of TV and newspaper coverage because sometime around November of 2024 someone had installed a couple of permanent rock climbing anchors in the cliff below the panel. It is hard to imagine that they wouldn't have known better. Why they would go through the trouble anyway when if you want to get a closer look all you have to do is hike around to the top.
The road splits again when you get to the first rocky outcrop. There is room for about 1 vehicle to park at this point. Another option would be to park back near the corral, or somewhere in between, and begin hiking from there.
As you hike along between the cliffs and the wash on your right you will come to a fence with a makeshift gate. Be sure to close the gate after passing through.
When we were there taking photos for this post there was a brand new brown mylar marker with a 'Who Passed This Way' sticker on it reminding visitors of the proper etiquette when visiting archeological sites.
A short distance past that you can spot the Pregnant Sheep Panel high up on the cliff above the trail. To the right on another portion of the cliff there is another large panel of images.
The guy with the wavy arms appears to be waving hello to everyone. To the right is the image of a bighorn sheep with another sheep inside of it for which the panel gets its name.
The panel to the right has some very large warrior looking anthropomorphic images and several large concentric circles.
We have gotten the impression that there are a large number of petroglyphs to be found in this area as a whole so we decided to hike another hundred yards or so to see if we could spot any and found some on the large boulder in this photo.
These are a couple of the half dozen or so images on the boulder.
The petroglyphs are well worth the little time that it takes for a visit. The round trip distance that we are showing is if you begin hiking right after turning off of the highway. Driving to the trailhead shortens it considerably. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
