Round Trip Distance: 2.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5469 - 5596 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Rainbow Forest Picnic Area
Fee: $25/vehicle
Attractions: petroglyphs
Jim Camp Wash is located in the Petrified Forest National Park east of Holbrook, Arizona. A large number of petroglyphs can be found along a trail that snakes up through the cliffside of boulders at the head of the wash.
To get there, enter 'Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center' into your driving app. Near the east end of the parking lot for the Visitor Center there is a Picnic Area. Across the road from the picnic area is the road that leads to the head of Jim Camp Wash. The road isn't open to vehicles but it is perfectly fine to hike.
Follow the road for about 1 mile to where it ends in a loop.
The trick here is to find where the trail up through the petroglyphs starts. From near where the loop at the end of the road first begins look for a faint trail on the right that dips down from the road and crosses the shallow wash. You might notice traces of the trail where it climbs up the hill through the boulders on the other side.
When you find the stone steps, that were probably constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corp, you will know that you are on the right track.
The image on the far left of this panel looks like a pistol. Near the center is an image that looks like a person, shot through the body, with a trail leading to a pool of blood. If that is what is depicted here the other images are probably part of the same story. That would date the images possibly as far back as the 17th century.
Here is another image of a conflict only this time the weapon is more what you would expect.
This hunting scene shows 2 lines of deer, or 1 line that is switchbacking up a hill, with 2 hunters below them aiming their bows and arrows. On a neighboring boulder there 15 deer in a line but the image that looks like a hunter is holding something different than a bow and arrow.
Besides the hunting scenes there are quite a few decorated squares and other geometric shapes.
Also found are a handful of mountain lion images. They sell a hat in the gift shop that has one of these images only much more ferocious looking. We were told that they were used to designate the directions such as east and west.
Here is another interesting panel. On the left is a flute player. The end of his flute is touching a square full of what look like pottery and blanket patterns. Below the flute player is a person that might be dancing along with a couple of deer and a mountain lion.
Here is another mountain lion with a long, bent tail.
And a stork.
This figure of a duck footed shaman with a rising thunder symbol for a head looks out of place in this area. It is a common image in southeastern Utah, around Cedar Mesa, Comb Ridge, and a few other places. Since those locations are hundreds of miles away it gives some idea of the interactions amongst the different people of the time. This image, I believe, is from the Basketmaker Period that predates the bow and arrow. The boulder that the image is on has slipped from its original orientation and is now lying on its side.
This guy that is waving hello is on a boulder that is facing up below the trail.
Here's a tall skinny fellow with spiked hair.
We noticed a little museum of pottery on display along the trail. Be sure to leave this and any other artifacts where you find them for others to enjoy.
We turned around at a point where the trail was falling apart. You can see where a boulder has slipped and knocked the stone staircase apart. We know there were at least a few more petroglyphs beyond this point because we could see them from below.
The ground where the petroglyphs are found is covered with a slippery scree of pebbles that can make it almost treacherous in places that are steep. Novice hikers might find it difficult to manage.
There are some petroglyphs that can be seen from below the hill that can't be seen from the trail above. It is hard to get good photos of them even with a good zoom lens. You might also spot some petroglyphs that aren't right along the official trail.
The large variety of petroglyphs in Jim Camp Wash seem to cover a long period of time that begins, perhaps, in the Basketmaker Period and continues almost up to historic times. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
