On our national parks RV trip in May, we tried to decipher messages left long ago by native peoples along the Colorado River outside Moab, Utah.

Today, Utah Highway 279 runs alongside these tablet-like sheer walls, with pull-outs where you can stop and look at the rock art.

On the dark “desert varnish” coating the sandstone, early American Indians chiseled petroglyphs and painted pictographs of animals, human-like figures, and abstract symbols.

A sign indicates that some of the rock art dates as far back as 6,000 B.C., incredibly.

You can puzzle all day over what the etchings and paintings meant.

They offer a mysterious glimpse into past lives.

One section shows people holding hands in a row, like paper dolls.

Horned animals and human figures

The Colorado River slides by next to the road, cutting through red rock formations.

I wonder how much this view has changed since the earliest petroglyphs were committed to rock.

If you’re interested in rock art like this, check out my earlier posts about petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock, pictographs at Canyonlands National Park, and petroglyphs at Capitol Reef National Park.

Up next: Going even deeper into the past at Dinosaur National Monument. For a look back at the otherworldly rock formations at Arches National Park, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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