Canyonlands National Park • Needles District, Utah
Journal Entry
August 12, 2015
Canyonlands is an expansive and truly beautiful national park. The opportunities for hiking are boundless, whether you are a weekend walker or a dedicated backwoodsman or woman. The eerily beautiful and evocative paintings of Horseshoe Canyon (Site 40) are located in a geographically separate unit of the park. As challenging (but worth the challenge) as those pictographs are to access, the large boulder called Newspaper Rock, with its wide array of pecked and incised petroglyphs, is easy. You drive on a paved road, you park, you walk a few feet, and the rock art is right there.
I know of at least one other ancient petroglyph panel in the United States called Newspaper Rock. That one is located in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The name implies that the rocks on which the art was placed served in effect as newspapers where the makers recorded in their art important information for the viewer, information related to significant events in the history of their people. In truth, we don’t know that either of those Newspaper Rocks served precisely that purpose; though in a sense, all art records information. After all, the name given the rock by the current tribe that inhabits the region, the Navajo, is Tse’ Hone, “rock that tells a story.” Whatever the precise intent of the artists, the good news rests in the fact that the practice of placing the art clustered together in a single place, on one rock face, certainly renders our visit, observation, and contemplation of the art that much more convenient. Art densely covers Newspaper Rock in Canyonlands, and it is amazing.
What You Will See
You will see an extraordinary number of incised, etched, and pecked images at Newspaper Rock (Figure 104). Across the approximately 200 square feet of the flat sandstone rock face, you will be able to see an estimated 650 distinct rock art images; that’s an average of more than three images for every square foot of rock surface.
I won’t give you an entire catalogue of the images, but a brief and non-exhaustive list includes:
• Human beings standing
• Human beings riding horses (one of whom has just fired an arrow at an elk)
• Bighorn sheep
• Bison
• Deer or elk
• Pronghorn antelope
• Lizards (maybe)
• Snakes
• Flying squirrels (maybe)
• Spirals
• Concentric circles
• Wheels (one of which looks a lot like a wagon wheel)
• Footprints (some look human, others like those of a bear)
• Apparently mythical beasts who have horns and walk on two feet
• Other geometric shapes, including dots and squiggles
As I mentioned previously, it can be very difficult to date petroglyphs. You can’t apply carbon dating directly. Based on the style of the art as well as the weathering of the images themselves, it is estimated that the rock was used as an art canvass beginning a little more than 2,000 years ago and continuing until about 450 years ago (ignoring the modern graffiti). Part of the panel is a sort of palimpsest; more recent art was superimposed over older images.
Want to see some more art that few people ever visit? Drive past Newspaper Rock about 1.9 miles farther on UT 211, and park at a little pullout on the left. Below the parking pullout, there’s a trail into Shay Canyon (you have to cross a small stream, but no big deal). The trail is clearly marked at first, taking you through a dry wash. Just a little past the stream, you’ll be able to see art high up on the cliff face in front of you and a little to the right. One panel on a particularly dark rock is obvious once you know what you’re looking for. Binoculars or a telephoto lens helps a lot. Though it looks pretty high up, the trail leading to the art panels isn’t terribly difficult or scary. It’s well worth the climb; there is art all along at the same level, including lots of cool images of bighorn sheep, geometrical patterns, and a bunch of Kokopellis.
Why Is Newspaper Rock Important?
The art found on Newspaper Rock, like all art of all times and places, provides a glimpse into the minds of the people who created it. Newspaper Rock is like a series of snapshots of the historical and spiritual lives of the ancient people of southern Utah. There are horseback-riding hunters. There are other animals that we know, based on the archaeological record, were hunted by the inhabitants of the region. Maybe these images were intended as sympathetic magic: By ritually “capturing” these animals in two dimensions on a rock surface, you can ensure your success in capturing the actual animals during a hunt. Beyond this, it’s difficult to tell. Are the mythical creatures depicted on the rock gods or spirits? Maybe. Do the human footprints lead to a spirit world? Perhaps. Like much of the other art sites included in my fifty-site odyssey, whatever the intended meaning we can at least appreciate the art created there for its intrinsic beauty.
Site Type: Petroglyphs
Wow Factor: **** Newspaper Rock is a very dense concentration of interesting art produced over a great span of time. It’s very impressive.
Museum: None
Ease of Road Access: *****
Ease of Hike: ***** The rock art is immediately adjacent to a parking lot. You can’t get easier than that.
Natural Beauty of Surroundings: *****
Kid Friendly: ****
Food: Bring your own.
How to Get There: Find your way to UT 211 from US 191. The closest town is Monticello, Utah. From Monticello, head north on US 191 for 14.4 miles. Turn left (west) onto UT 211 (also called the Indian Creek Scenic Byway), the main road leading to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. In 12.3 miles you will arrive at the parking lot for Newspaper Rock, on the right.
Hours of Operation: Open year-round, 24/7
Cost: Free
Best Season to Visit: Any time
Website: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/more/cultural/archaeology/places_to_visit/Newspaper_Rock.html
Designation: National Park