Land of an Ancient Culture

Last week, we met up with some riders from the Wasatch Front for a couple of fun days in southern Utah. 

There's Steve, overlooking the rim of Horseshoe Canyon from the trailhead at the Canyonlands, Horseshoe Canyon Unit (also called Barrier Canyon, the name given to the rock art found there.)  The red soil marks the rim.  Below are the light colored sandstone cliffs surrounding the canyon. 

Here are a couple of friends getting ready to ride.  A permit is required to bring horses into the unit.  Up to 10 riders a day are allowed.  Although we've been down this trail a half dozen times, we've only seen horses on one other occasion. 

Riding along the bottom of the canyon is thirsty work. 

Humans were glad to have water bottles, but the 4 horses and 2 mules tanked up at the water holes.

Along the way, we stopped to admire the work of the ancients.  The main part of the Great Gallery is shown above,

but this time we noticed another section, a little before we reached the main panel.  Notice the warrior with shield just to the right of center. 

Barrier Canyon style art (dating from 3000 years ago) can be found in many places on the sandstone cliffs, most of them unmarked and probably not often seen. 

Riding along paths traveled by an ancient people is almost a spiritual experience.  We were delighted each and every time we found another panel of pictographs.  On the right hand side of the photo above, you'll see a line of animals, probably deer, drawn on the sandstone. 

If you look closely in the photo above, you will see two deer well camouflaged among the trees.  Like the ancient people, we, too, saw a herd of deer.  The ancient method of recording the image on the rock walls will likely outlast our modern day electronic images. 
After 18 miles in half a day, we returned to the trailers, ready for a camp dinner and a good night's rest before hitting the trail for a longer ride in the morning.