Round Trip Distance: 0.25 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 426 - 469 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Sears Point
Fee: none
Attractions: Petroglyphs
The Sears Point Petroglyphs are located about 8.5 miles north of I-8 and 36.5 miles west of Gila Bend, Arizona. Covering a large area, Sears Point has more than 2,000 panels of petroglyphs spread out in over a half dozen clusters as well as one large geoglyph. According to the BLM kiosk at the trailhead there are three separate styles of petroglyphs at Sears Point which include Western Archaic Tradition Style (10,500 BCE to about 2,300 BCE), Gila Style (300 BCE - 1450 CE), and Patayan Style (beginning at 500 CE).
To get there, take I-8 Exit 78 and follow Avenue 76 East north for 8.5 miles to the trailhead and kiosk. As this is a well known location you can enter 'Sears Point' into your driving app for turn-by-turn directions. The road starts out suitable for highway vehicles but toward the end something with at least medium ground clearance will probably be needed.
From the trailhead the 2nd group of petroglyphs shown in this post are on the hill just to the right where social trails can be spotted leading up through the rocks.
A Patayan anthropomorph on a small boulder is one of the first images to come in sight.
This boulder has an image of what looks like a cow. Judging from the patina the image of the cow might be a lot newer than the others.
This image of what we have been calling a serpent staff looks like a newer rendition of the others. Here circular lobes replace the single serpentine intertwined shape.
The cliff in this area has a lot of what appear to be Patayan petroglyphs overlaying other images that might be of an earlier style.
This is an interesting panel of grids, a ladder, and other shapes.
You might notice at the bottom the image of a flute player sitting on a rock that appears to be playing its tune to the staff. Pretty cool. The image a little higher up and to the right of a circle with a line leading in and out of it is commonly used to depict a lake. There is a horizontal line connecting it to the staff which makes us wonder if what we are calling a serpent staff doesn't in some way represent the Gila River in this case.
Here is an image which resembles what elsewhere is meant to depict the morning or evening star.
In this configuration perhaps the top image is the morning star and the lower meant to represent the evening star. We're also wondering if the images were made to different depths into the rock to come up with the different coloring or whether the rock itself is naturally two toned. In either case, it seems rather cleverly artistic.
Interestingly rayed concentric circles with a lot of chicken scratch.
Whatever it is, this makes me think of twin serpents.
