Round Trip Distance: 1.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5179 - 5580 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: 40.03912, -111.63390
Fee: none
Attractions: pictographs
The Water Canyon Pictographs are located east of Salem, Utah. Found at the site are a half dozen or more pictographs of bighorn sheep on the cliffs immediately above a sealed cave.
What serves as a trailhead for Water Canyon is near a large water tank just off of South 1900 East. For turn-by-turn directions enter 40.03912, -111.63390 into your driving app. There is a road that loops around the water tank with several places to park on either side. Be sure not to block their gate.
On our trip we parked on the northwest corner of the water tank and followed the road around from there.
Looking at the map you will notice that there are several different routes that you can follow. For the most part it is one of those 'all roads lead to Rome' things.
There is a shallow wash that runs up the middle of the canyon. If you stay on the left side of the wash you will go a few hundred feet past the pictographs and have to double back on the road that is on the south side of the wash. Alternatively there is a connecting route about a quarter mile from the trailhead that crosses the wash to the south side. For reference, the pictographs are on the side of the gray cliffs up ahead at the mouth of the canyon on the right hand side.
If you drove to the point where a short side trail leads through the oak brush to the pictographs you will find a place on the left where you can park out of the way. Driving to this point will more than likely require 4WD to get up the steep rocky road.
The cave is down low in a bit of a hole. We know there is a cave under there because the soot on the rock from fires that were made inside of it long, long ago shows signs of habitation. We circled the spots on the cliff where you can find the images of bighorn sheep.
There are 3 bighorn sheep in a line that show up the best. It is interesting to note how the one on the far right is a lighter shade while each one to the left gets darker in color. Something like red, purple, and then black.
The images are slowly disappearing under a layer of something like salt that is forming over the top of them.
There is a longer line of sheep, facing in the opposite direction, a little lower on the cliff. These images are fainter and have a lot of graffiti beside them.
On the left are at least 2 more sheep. To the left of those there is more paint but we couldn't tell whether it was graffiti or not.
We could have easily driven all the way to the mouth of Water Canyon and parked across from the pictographs but chose to hike it instead. There is about 400 feet of elevation gain so you end up getting a pretty good little workout if you decide to hike.
All in all, the pictographs are worth the time and effort it takes to see them and the area itself is rather pretty to boot.
If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
