Nogales Cliff House

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 7201 - 7576 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: 36.40308, -106.87261
Fee: none
Attractions: scenic cliff dwelling

The Nogales Cliff House is located in the Sante Fe National Forest north of Cuba, New Mexico. Attributed to the prehistoric Gallina Culture the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The ruins are ensconced in a side branch of Spring Canyon at an elevation of over 7,500 feet.

Parrish Creek Pictographs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.8 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4606 - 4821 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: 40.92239, -111.86619
Fee: none
Attractions: pictographs, scenic creek

The Parrish Creek Pictographs are located in the foothills north of Salt Lake City, along I-15, near Centerville, Utah. The site includes mostly about a dozen faded anthropomorphic figures.

Davis Creek Pictographs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4797 - 5289 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Farmington Trails Parking
Fee: none
Attractions: pictographs, scenic creek

The Davis Creek Pictographs are located on a rocky outcrop overlooking Davis Creek, in the foothills north of Salt Lake City, along I-15, just east of Farmington, Utah. The site includes a handful of small red zoomorphic pictographs of which two images still show up quite well.

Cañon Tapia - Part 1 or 3

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 7.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5898 - 6155 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 6 hrs. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Canyon Tapia 35.51276, -107.13153
Fee: none
Attractions: Pueblo ruins, petroglyphs

Cañon Tapia is located way out in the desert southeast of Cuba, New Mexico not too far from the Guadalupe Ruins. Within the canyon we have identified 12 main panels of petroglyphs and on a bench overlooking the canyon are the Tower Ruins, a partially reconstructed tower and the ruins of a larger than expected pueblo. Cañon Tapia and the Tower Ruin Site are subject to 4 seasonal, ~2 week, closures "to ensure privacy for sacred Native American traditional activities". Due to the very large number of petroglyphs this post will be segmented into 3 parts.

Cañon Tapia - Part 2 of 3

After returning to the wash from visiting the Tower Ruins cross over to the north side and begin searching along the cliffs for more petroglyphs. The panels in this post are all across from the ruins.

These are 2 of the images from the panel we labeled P4.

The next 3 panels a little further up the canyon we lumped together as P5.

The images at P6 are a little harder to make out but they look pretty interesting. They appear to have been created after the surface of the rock was already pot marked.

P7 looks like a fringed basket with legs and maybe 2 heads.

On the lower right corner of the Basket Man there are 2 upside down figures probably representing a couple of dead men. Below what might be a horse or burro there is a small figure taking aim with a bow and arrow.

What we labeled as P8 is actually another group of panels that are in close proximity of each other.

P9 is a large panel that is eaten away at the bottom. It is at a corner of the cliff where there is another panel to the right.

P9 is this diamond shaped looking basket. Note that some of these panels are up on a bench that is 20 or 30 feet above the wash. If you don't venture up onto the bench you will miss a whole lot of images.

Parts 1, 3