September 19: Our Next Move

The immediate reason for returning to Blanding, Utah, was that I (Bill) had an appointment with the curator at the Edge of Cedars Museum, Deboarah Westfall.  I had wanted to search the rock art data base that had been assembled by Sally Cole (and used for her book, Legacy on Stone).  Ms Westfall was very accommodating and allowed me to use the computer in her office.  I don't know if she expected me to stay there for 6 hours without a lunch break, but she seemed glad someone else was interested.

The documentation of rock art sites was restricted to the area from Moab to Cedar Mesa--precisely the area I was concentrating on.  Although the database was not complete, it still contained more than 250 separate sites, many of which have four or five or more panels--thousands of individual images.  Each site was carefully drawn.  Although the database was not very specific about exact locations, I was familiar with many of them.  I came away with 15 pages of notes that will help me assemble a more complete profile.

The other reason for returning to Utah was that our time was running short and now we had to concentrate on the really serious sites, some of which would require extensive hiking (or rough driving).  The weather was turning a bit cooler (90s in the afternoon), which made it more practical for us to go into canyon country.

The sites we absolutely had to visit included the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon, the Procession Panel on Comb Ridge, the Butler Wash Petroglyphs on the San Juan River, the Fremont Petroglyphs in Capitol Reef National Monument, and sites in Grand Gulch Primitive Recreation Area. To visit these sites, we would have to cross Glen Canyon and travel back and forth between southcentral and southeastern Utah.