Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5276 - 5403 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: 36.97427, -112.87063
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs, pictographs
Rosy Canyon Site 2 is located along County Highway 237 northeast of Colorado City, Arizona. For those not familiar with the area Highway 237 is the road that leads from Colorado City to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes just over the Utah border. Found at the site are more than a score of petroglyphs and a few pictographs.
To get there drive east from Colorado City on UT-389 and turn left onto County Highway 237. Continue for 6.4 miles to where there is a short road on the right that ends in a loop. The rock art is in the next short canyon to the right from the trailhead.
From the parking area follow the well worn trail that heads toward the back of the canyon. Before getting all the way to the back of the canyon look for a trail to the right that dips down into the wash.
That trail crosses the shallow wash and continues around into the next short canyon.
As you get near the back of that canyon there will be a place on the left where you can scramble up to the rock art.
There are a lot of images all up and down the ledges here and off to the right. Since water sometimes runs over the top of them most of the images are worn faint.
The images off to the right have fared much better.
This one looks like an old Basketmaker style anthropomorphic figure similar to ones seen elsewhere.
This image that looks like 2 bighorn joined together. We also see this image quite often but as yet haven't learned what it is meant to represent.
Here's a little bug looking anthropomorphic image that if you scrutinize closely you can make out the stern facial features of 2 eyes, a nose, and mouth.
There are a lot more bighorn and other shapes scattered about on the cliffs.
The pictographs are higher up on the cliff. The shapes to the left of the 2 anthropomorphic figures may have been chalked or perhaps they were originally painted. It's hard to tell.
They went through a lot of trouble to place this Basketmaker figure way high up on the cliff within the shelter of a recess in the rocks.
