Round Trip Distance: 0.3 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6035 - 6063 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 37.71767, -111.62854
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs, pictographs
Alvey Wash is located in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument south of Escalante, Utah. Driving through the area it is easy to spot a handful of rock art sites that are within a short distance of the Smoky Mountain Road. This post is for the first site that we came across which is really kinda 2 sites in one.
To get there from Escalante turn south at the Smoky Mountain sign at the corner of Main Street and 500 West.
Follow the Smoky Mountain/Alvey Wash Road for 4.2 miles where as you round a corner there will be a large alcove on the right. For turn-by-turn directions to this spot you can enter 37.71767, -111.62854 into your driving app. The first, and best, pictographs are on the cliff to the left of the alcove at the bottom of the rock pile. Many more pictographs and petroglyphs can be found around the corner along the south side of the cliffs.
There are 3 figures here that appear to be waving hello and another that looks like he is break dancing.
Walking along the cliff there are a few more images here and there that mostly look like blotches and then there is a cool campsite behind a huge leaning slab of rock. Besides some graffiti there are a few images in this sheltered spot that look authentic.
On around the corner, above the wash, there is a long, low, overhang with mostly pictographs, a few petroglyphs, and some sharpening grooves.
The surface of the rock here is more porous, and probably soaked up a lot of the paint when it was applied, so the images don't look very smooth.
It's not always easy to tell what you are supposed to be looking at.
This long panel has a mix of white, red, and black images.
The image in the middle vaguely resembles a man on horseback.
These black painted images have been outlined with white chalk. It is now illegal to chalk, trace, or do anything else that can damage rock art.
These red pictographs have petroglyphs both above and below them.
Here it looks like a red pictograph of a man on a horse and far off to the right is another man on a horse that is done in black.
A large boulder has some petroglyphs and sharpening grooves.
Be sure to check out the underside of the overhang for a few more images.
