Round Trip Distance: 1 mile
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5720 - 5748 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: Sid and Charlie
Fee: none
Attractions: Pictographs, granary
Sid and Charlie is a rock formation in the San Rafael Swell a little east of Moore, Utah. The scenic twin spires occasionally draw the attention of a few rock climbers. Just across the wash on a cliff to the north of Sid and Charlie are a couple of pictograph panels and a granary and that is the main purpose for this visit.
To get to the trailhead from Interstate 70 west of Green River, Utah take Exit 116 and follow the Moore Cutoff Road, Emery County Road 803, for about 6 miles and turn right about 2 tenths of a mile before reaching mile marker 13. That would but the turnoff right at MM 13.2.
After turning off of the highway the road crosses a cattle guard and heads off across the flats passing a fence line around the 2.5 mile point and reaching Sid and Charlie after 3.7 miles. The road is labeled as 4wd but on the day that we took the photos for this post it was in good enough condition that a careful driver in a 2wd passenger vehicle could have made it just fine, or at least made as far as a wash crossing about a half mile before the trailhead. This is one of those roads that the bottom drops out of when wet and everyone should stay off of it under those conditions.
There is a climbers trailhead near Sid and Charlie which is a good spot to park if you want to walk over and get a closer look before venturing on to the pictographs.
The other option is to continue on to the end of the road and cut about half the distance off of the hike.
A keen eye can probably pick out the pictograph panel on the left from the second trailhead if you know where to look.
A well worn path from the 2nd trailhead leads to the wash.
Once you get into the wash though the trail seems to disappear. Since we know the pictographs are only a hundred yards or so away on yonder cliff we can just head off in that direction.
The main panel on the left has 2 or 3 large shields and lots of other smaller images. There is a trail that leads up to the base of the cliff below the panel but if you climb up there you won't be able to see the images at all so it's best to either climb only part way up to them or bring a pair of binoculars and a telephoto lens to get a better look.
This photo was taken from the bottom of the hill hand holding a Canon 200-400mm lens.
To the right of the first panel of pictographs there is the partial remains of a well camouflaged granary tucked away beneath an overhang.
The second panel has a very long wavy line with a large circular emblem above the middle and a faded anthropomorphic figure just below it on the left hand side.
There is still some good details that are visible with the circular image but there are other parts of the panel that are almost completely washed out.
While looking around the area to see what else we might notice we came across a very special find that appears to be a garden spot that still has a root stalk in the center of it. We've come across waffle gardens and spots like this in the past and it's always special to find one that hasn't been trampled out by cattle. For some perspective this flattened garden spot is probably a little more than a yard in diameter. This should be considered an archeological site and left undisturbed.
