Desert Mountain Site 2

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4940 - 4974 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Desert Mtn. Rd. mm 1.5
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs

Desert Mountain Site 2 is the second of four petroglyph sites that can be found along a primitive road on the south side of Desert Mountain. The area is about 26 miles due north of Delta, Utah.

Site 2 is another basalt outcrop that is about 1.1 miles west of Site 1 and about 130 feet from the road. We circled some of the areas around the outcrop where there are images. Notice that there are also images on a few of the rocks that are low to the ground.

Site 2 has quite a few images of atlatls which are the devices that were used before the bow and arrow came into use for throwing spears and darts.

Here is another atlatl image.

Here are a couple of anthropomorphic images with no appendages. Each image has a different body pattern that represents who knows what.

Looking closely you can make out a pair of eyes.

The shoulder of one of the shiny low-lying boulders has an interesting reticulated image scratched on its surface. Although it makes you think of a net maybe it represents the weave of a basket or something else entirely.

We were wondering how the rocks became so polished. Whether it was from glacial action or the action of waves along the shore of a lake. Probably the latter.

Here is an interesting spoke pattern within two circles that brings to mind a medicine wheel.

Almost all of the images are on the west side of the outcrop.

There are a handful on the south end of the outcrop that include these. The smiley faced image in the middle with the 2 concentric circles for a body is pretty neat.

 This image of a hand looks like it only has 3 fingers until you look closer and notice the finger that runs along the crack. Maybe there is a thumb in there also. There is another, more distinct looking, handprint nearby.

Site 2 is fun to explore looking for images. They are on all sorts of angles, in various nooks and crannies, and even almost under foot. There could be even more images on some of the other outcrops that we didn't take time to find. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.