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Ivie Creek Rock Shelter

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5937 - 6123 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Hidden Valley Mine Rd.
Fee: none
Attractions: pictographs




The Ivie Creek Rock Shelter is located south of Emery, Utah overlooking an area known as Hidden Valley. On the walls inside the rock shelter are found a number of interesting pictographs. In the same area, a little further away, are two large red circular pictographs possibly representing shields.


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. Drive all the way to the end of the paved portion of the Hidden Valley Mine Road and park anywhere out of the way.


After parking continue on foot down the reclaimed portion of the mine road as it drops into Hidden Valley. 


After a short distance there is a gate across the road. The best way to see both the shields and the rock shelter is to first hike down to the shields and back and then hike around the cliff on the right to the rock shelter where it is a simple matter to cut back across the top of the mesa to your vehicle. 


To get to the shields keep hiking down the road from the gate to a bench that overlooks Ivie Creek. 


Before dropping all the way down to Ivie Creek search high up on the cliffs to your left until you spot the overhang with the 2 large red circles.


It would be a most difficult task climbing up the side of the mountain for a closer look. If you do make the attempt you should be able to find at least one more image further around the corner into the side canyon. 


After viewing the shields retrace your steps to the gate where you can begin hiking around the hill on the west side of the drainage. 


As you hike around the corner continue past some boulders and look for a route that will take you up to the rim as though you were attempting to get all the way back up on top of the mesa. 


Check out anything that looks like an overhang until you find the one with the pictographs. The site is near the east end of the cliffs. 


The images cover a 6 - 8 foot section of the rock.
 

Besides several stick figure anthropomorphic images there are a large number of geometric designs, some with very fine details. 



After leaving the rock shelter it is easy enough to find your way on top of the mesa where there is an old road the leads to where we started out. It's hard to say what else a person could find in the area with a little exploration. The 4wd road that continues past the end of the Hidden Valley Road can be followed for several miles to an area that overlooks the lower end of Ivie Creek and Interstate 70. There are some old trails that provide access to a large bench that we have only explored a little. Besides many interesting views and geological features we did come across some old inscriptions with one name that appears several times in the area. As far as the rock shelter goes, if you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.