Round Trip Distance: 800 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6042 - 6203 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 38.56463, -108.13260
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
Roatcap Gulch has 3 pretty easy to hike branches that each show at least some signs of use by ancient Native Peoples and later use by others. This post is for some petroglyphs that are above the main branch of Roatcap Gulch that are sometimes referred to as the Game Drive Panel as it has images of a handful of human figures that are herding 30 or more big game animals.
For turn-by-turn directions you can enter 38.56463, -108.13260 into your driving app. Eventually you will end up at the west end of Fox Hill Road where it crosses the canal and becomes West Transfer. Immediately after crossing the canal turn right at the above sign and begin following the Roatcap Gulch Road. If your driving app is suggesting to drive further up West Transfer before turning just ignore it. After you turn right onto Roatcap Gulch it should autocorrect. There are brown mylar trail markers at most intersections that make it easier to stay on the Roatcap Gulch Road even without a driving app to guide you. Roatcap Gulch requires a medium to high clearance 4WD vehicle.
After following the Roatcap Gulch Road for about 4.5 miles you will come to where it makes a sharp left and begins climbing out of the gulch. At this point stay in the gulch by continuing straight ahead. Your driving app probably doesn't know about the 4WD road that leads the remaining distance to the trailhead. (I just noticed that the blue arrow that I drew here is pointing right at the petroglyphs on the rock ridge that are only a half mile up ahead.)
The 4WD road comes to an end after about a half mile. The last few hundred feet are pretty rough even if you are in an off road vehicle and there's no sense in going to the bitter end of the road because the petroglyphs are due north of where we put 'Park Here'.
If you have extra keen eyesight or a good pair of binoculars you can see the large elk that is on the left hand side of the panel from where you park. From below that portion of the cliff face looks about the smoothest. The panel is facing mostly east.
There is about 150 feet of elevation gain to get up to the panel. When we were there we couldn't see any signs of a former trail or even a single boot track. If a trail does start redeveloping in the future try to stay on it the best you can.
The panel has two long cracks running down its face. The antrhos that are herding the animals appear along these two lines.
Here you can see 4 of the small human like figures. One arm of each of several of the figures are, we're guessing, probably holding whatever weapon was being used. We're also guessing the weapon was a bow judging by a couple of the images.
If you enlarge this photo you can see that the figure has its mouth open as though yelling. Looking closely you can make out teeth and even eyes.
This is the right side of the panel. The rock is deteriorating and ruining the images. Be sure not to touch any of the rock because that will only speed up the process.
Looking down the canyon, for reference, you can see where the Roatcap Gulch Road climbs out of the gulch on the right and the half mile stretch of 4WD road continues toward where you parked.
There are quite a few rock shelters in the surrounding area. This one has some walls made with dry stacked rocks. There are also a few inscriptions on the back wall. It is located just north of the turnoff into the East Fork of Roatcap Gulch.
Those that would like to read a little about the images can find a nice write up online by Carol Patterson. And those that would like to do a little more hiking while in the area will find a well constructed trail up this branch of Roatcap Gulch that we followed for about 2.5 miles before turning around.
As far as the Roatcap Gulch Game Drive Panel goes, if you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
As far as the Roatcap Gulch Game Drive Panel goes, if you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
