Round Trip Distance: 4.3 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5322 - 6125 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Mansard Trail
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Mansard Alcove is located on BLM land east of Kanab, Utah. Within the alcove there is a large slab of slickrock that has had deep grooves ground into its surface that are surrounded by scores of interesting petroglyphs.
While it is possible to drive within a couple hundred feet of the alcove via a number of 4WD roads it is probably faster to just hike the 2 miles up the Mansard trail. To get to the trailhead you can enter 'Mansard Trail' into your driving app for turn-by-turn directions.
From the trailhead to the alcove there is about 800 feet of elevation gain. The pleasantly gentle switchbacks that lead up the steep part of the mountain seem to only require a moderate amount of effort for those that are in good hiking shape.
The only real obstacle is a 7 foot high section of cliff that requires a little bit of a scramble.
The alcove looks more like a ceremonial site as it shows none of the usual signs of habitation.
The most unique aspect of the Mansard Alcove petroglyphs are the long channeled grooves that cover the large slickrock slab from top to bottom.
Intermingled with the grooves is a storyboard of petroglyphs.
Here is a 3 fingered anthropomorphic figure with concentric circles for a head.
We rotated the camera to capture this hunter at a more true to life angle.
Here is a puzzling image that has a hummingbird like body with a strange head.
A large footprint.
Here are 2 abstract anthropomorphic figures. The one on the left might have a dragonfly over its head.
The petroglyphs near the top of the slickrock slab are harder to photograph due to the camera angle and distance.
Here is a long cylinder with spirals at both ends surrounded by more abstract anthropomorphic figures.
Here's another interesting group of images that are high up on the slab and hard to photograph.
Two connected spirals that turn in opposite directions.
Here is a hand print that was made in one of the sugar sandstone boulders in the mouth of the alcove. That sugar sand covers some of the slickrock below the alcove making it like walking on ice. Pretty slippery stuff.
Signs in the alcove instruct visitors to stay off of the slickrock slab and not go past a certain line. For that reason you will need a good zoom lens if you want to take any closeups. We were using a 100 - 400 mm zoom lens to take most of our photos. If I were to return to the site I would also take my Insta 360 camera with a 10 foot selfie stick that I could use to hover over the images for a birds eye view.
The Mansard Alcove is quite a unique place to visit.
If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
