Canyonlands Maze

The Maze in Canyonlands is difficult to access but well worth the trouble. When we visited several years ago, we drove about 60 miles east from Hwy 24. Then we turned onto the Flint Trail, a precarious dirt road, narrow, rocky, with many twists and turns, accented at the start by a couple of miles of breath-stopping drop offs. After that sketchy first section, which takes an hour to negotiate, we drove 15 more miles (3 hours) over rough terrain to the Maze overlook, the end of the road. At that point, we took off on foot, dropping into the Maze itself. (An aerial view shows this 30 square miles to carved into many canyons, looking just like a maze.) The hike down featured some sandstone ledges that are not for the faint of heart. But the area is infrequently traveled, so the isolation is splendid. And a hike of a few miles through twisting canyons will take you to some incredible rock art. (Click photo to see the full width of the panel.)

This is known as the Harvest Panel or the Bird Site, and features Barrier style rock art, which is the oldest found in the Colorado Plateau area. The people who created these panels pre-dated the Anasazi and Fremont cultures. The panels have been dated at somewhere between 2000 and 4000 years old.

The tallest figures are probably "spirit" representations. Note how the one at the right with hand extended has something coming from his hand. It appears to be a grain plant such as the native Indian rice grass we see in the area today. The animals seem drawn to him. Some of the smaller figures are bent over as if engaged in harvesting a crop.
We can't know for certain what is meant by any of the depictions, which is what makes rock art so fascinating.

This photo, taken of another section of the Harvest Scene, shows relative size and more interesting symbols.

Below is a photo of a small spring in Horse Canyon, a few miles south of the Harvest Panel, where we stopped for lunch and a rest in the shade. The pool of water appears dark but is actually crystal clear.

On the way home from the Maze, we stopped at Barrier Canyon (also called Horseshoe Canyon), a more accessible and more often visited area, where we saw more Barrier style rock art. This panel is called the Great Gallery:

Here is a closeup of some of the figures:

The figures below are referrered to as the Holy Ghost group. I think you'll see why.

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