Ivie Creek Petroglyphs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1.9 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5913 - 6056 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Hidden Valley Mine Rd.
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs

The Ivie Creek Petroglyphs are located south of Emery, Utah off of the Hidden Valley Mine Road. The site boasts several panels of petroglyphs that include various Fremont era rainbow iconography typical of the area. Hiking in the area is very primitive but the close proximity to a paved road make the petroglyphs worth searching out.

To get there from Emery drive south on UT-10 for about 8 miles and turn east onto the paved unmarked Hidden Valley Mine Road. The same turnoff is right at 4.4 miles south of Exit 91 on Interstate 70.

Follow the Hidden Valley Mine Road for 1.4 miles to where an old 4wd road branches off to the south. The ground here is adobe clay so don't attempt driving off the pavement if it is saturated with water. The round trip distance that we are showing was measured from the pavement. If you do drive down the 4wd road you can park anywhere out of the way near the gate to begin hiking,

Find your way down into the wash and begin hiking downstream along Ivie Creek. Hiking through the tangles of brush and willows in the wash is anything but easy yet it is manageable. 

The water in the creek forms pools in places making it necessary to search out shallow crossings. Unless you are here during spring runoff you should be able to keep your feet dry. 

We explored all the overhangs along the cliffs finding various interesting things along the way. Eventually there is a nice panel of petroglyphs with many rainbows that can be spotted high up near the rim on the south side of the creek.

Some of the images are faded but they aren't so faint that they can't be seen from across the creek.

The images appear to be Fremont in style incorporating numerous rainbows that are so common throughout the region.

If you continue past the petroglyphs you will come to a bend in  Ivie Creek where a number of different washes join together. There are a few more petroglyphs on some rocks on the east side of Ivie Creek.

Here the rainbow theme continues to manifest itself in several of the images.

From where all the washes come together you can scramble up to the ground above the first panel of petroglyphs and hike across a narrow ridge until you are directly above them where you will find a gap that leads down to the panels. From there you can hike across the top to get back to your vehicle.

Rockhounds will find that selenite crystals and clam fossils are fairly easy to find in the area especially near where Coal Creek crosses the Hidden Valley Mine Road. We concentrated a few of them into small piles and left them for others to stumble across.

There is also what looks like a large circle of an unexcavated pithouse near where we had parked. Remember that it is illegal to dig around such sites or to remove anything from them. There are a few other pithouses that can be found up on the mesa above the interstate. Nearby in Hidden Valley where there is a rockshelter with some interesting pictographs as well as a shield site that overlooks the creek. Both Barrier Canyon and Fremont style rock art sites can be found pretty much anywhere around Emery County where there is a good source of water nearby. The Ivie Creek petroglyphs are yet another of those sites. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.