Round Trip Distance: 1,000 ft.
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 7185 - 7222 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Turnoff: 41.87130, -109.13073
Trailhead: 41.88589, -109.11769
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Cedar Canyon Petroglyphs are located about 27 miles north of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The site has an extensive display of Native American rock carvings depicting game animals such as antelope and deer, horses and riders, human figures, vertical tool marks, and a variety of abstract geometric forms (trailhead kiosk).
Driving apps are not aware of all of the roads that it takes to get to the Cedar Mountain Petroglyphs Site but you can get turn-by-turn directions as far as a nearby turnoff by entering 41.87130, -109.13073 into your driving app. That turnoff is the one shown in the above photo which is about 4.5 miles from CR 17. The unreadable sign that we circled in the photo probably at one time read 'Cedar Mountain Petroglyphs'.
The map at the bottom of this post should easily get you from where the driving app leaves off. Basically you will stay left after another 0.36 miles. In another 0.7 miles after that you will reach the top of a ridge where you will want to go to the right.
After another 0.3 miles there is a road that drops down off of the ridge on your left. This is the best route to take in dry weather. Continuing straight requires a high clearance 4WD vehicle to get through a sand bog, so take your pick.
Once you reach the trailhead you will be greeted by a large informative sign that will reassure you that you are not completely lost and have reached your destination. (It was a welcome relief to us anyway.)
To find where the petroglyphs begin head toward the rocky outcrop in this photo which is behind the sign. Once you get to that spot to find the rest of the petroglyphs all you have to do is explore all of the cliffs to the right until you can find no more.
The petroglyphs at the Cedar Mountain site were carved into the soft sandstone using something probably like a deer antler or maybe a combination of tools.
Next around the corner there is a shallow soot covered cave with a lot of deep grooves carved to the left of the entrance. On a smooth part of the rock at the top there is an image of a horse.
On around the cliff from there is some colorful striated rock. We were thinking that if this image is anthropomorphic then you might call this the Rain Man Panel or maybe the Rainbow Man Panel. ( A rake symbol is often used to represent rain.)
Beneath an overhang opposite of that, on the same striated rock, is a large shield.
Next is a panel of images that are probably abstract anthros. Some of them have heads and arms and legs with fingers and toes. Others are mere stick figures but they do appear to have dangling male organs.
This large panel has a handful of human like figures, or anthros, of various sizes. One probably has a shield.
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Cedar Canyon Petroglyphs are located about 27 miles north of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The site has an extensive display of Native American rock carvings depicting game animals such as antelope and deer, horses and riders, human figures, vertical tool marks, and a variety of abstract geometric forms (trailhead kiosk).
Driving apps are not aware of all of the roads that it takes to get to the Cedar Mountain Petroglyphs Site but you can get turn-by-turn directions as far as a nearby turnoff by entering 41.87130, -109.13073 into your driving app. That turnoff is the one shown in the above photo which is about 4.5 miles from CR 17. The unreadable sign that we circled in the photo probably at one time read 'Cedar Mountain Petroglyphs'.
The map at the bottom of this post should easily get you from where the driving app leaves off. Basically you will stay left after another 0.36 miles. In another 0.7 miles after that you will reach the top of a ridge where you will want to go to the right.
After another 0.3 miles there is a road that drops down off of the ridge on your left. This is the best route to take in dry weather. Continuing straight requires a high clearance 4WD vehicle to get through a sand bog, so take your pick.
Once you reach the trailhead you will be greeted by a large informative sign that will reassure you that you are not completely lost and have reached your destination. (It was a welcome relief to us anyway.)
To find where the petroglyphs begin head toward the rocky outcrop in this photo which is behind the sign. Once you get to that spot to find the rest of the petroglyphs all you have to do is explore all of the cliffs to the right until you can find no more.
The petroglyphs at the Cedar Mountain site were carved into the soft sandstone using something probably like a deer antler or maybe a combination of tools.
Next around the corner there is a shallow soot covered cave with a lot of deep grooves carved to the left of the entrance. On a smooth part of the rock at the top there is an image of a horse.
On around the cliff from there is some colorful striated rock. We were thinking that if this image is anthropomorphic then you might call this the Rain Man Panel or maybe the Rainbow Man Panel. ( A rake symbol is often used to represent rain.)
Beneath an overhang opposite of that, on the same striated rock, is a large shield.
Next is a panel of images that are probably abstract anthros. Some of them have heads and arms and legs with fingers and toes. Others are mere stick figures but they do appear to have dangling male organs.
This long 4-legged animal, if it has a short tail, could be most any game animal. If the tail touching the crack suggests that it is long then I suppose it would be a mountain lion which are usually depicted with long bodies and long tails, often curving up over their back.
Maybe this is what the sun looks like if you stare at it too much.
Here is a sun, some plants, and several yonis.
On Google Maps there are two place markers that say 'Cedar Canyon Petroglyphs' and neither of them are correct. That required us to spend some extra time exploring to find this site. During the hunt we did find another site that we labeled Cedar Canyon East that is easy enough to get to to be worthwhile if you have a little extra time to spare.
If you would like to see these petroglyphs for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
