Prickly Pear Flat Rock Art Traditional Cache
Prickly Pear Flat Rock Art
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is located along the way to some pictographs and
petroglyphs on Prickly Pear Flat.
I didn't know there was any rock art in this area, until I noticed
a road in Google Earth that
led away from the main road to the base of a south-facing cliff,
then abruptly turned in a different direction and led back to the
main road. I had seen roads like that before at the base of Cedar
Mountain, and those all led to rock art. I couldn't find any
information on the internet about the location of this rock art,
but I was at least able to confirm the existence of rock art in
this area. I decided to take a chance and go hiking through the
snow in search of the rock art, and I found it.
The cache is actually 0.4 miles northeast of the rock art (mostly
pictographs, but there are a few petroglyphs as well), and there
some petroglyphs (whose authenticity I question) about 800' north
of the cache in the bottom of the same wash.
The cliff face above the cache is actually interesting in itself,
with beautiful bands of orange and brown in the sandstone.
Getting to the cache and the rock art can be pretty difficult. The
roads in the area are extremely rough. I had to park my 4x4 truck
1.5 miles from the rock art because I couldn't get up a
snow-covered slickrock hill that the road crossed over. I hiked
along a road most of the way to the rock art, but that proved to be
tiring with all the snow, so I took a more direct route
cross-country to get back to the truck.
Here is one way to get to the cache and the rock art, but it's not
the only way (just the best in my opinion
). At any point you may find
yourself unable to proceed in your vehicle, so just get out
and start hiking at that point. Turn east at N 39° 07.145' W
110° 35.510' and follow the road as it curves south. At N 39°
06.444' W 110° 36.439', leave the main road and head
south--there is an old 4x4 road here that looks like it's only
used by ATVs now. Continue south on this "road" until you get
to N 39° 06.266' W 110° 36.522', at which point you should
turn directly west and start hiking cross-country. After
heading west for about 0.3 miles, you should end up in the
bottom of a wash. Not far from here is the set of petroglyphs
(that I'm not sure are genuine) at N 39° 06.202' W 110°
36.855'. From there, just keep heading south in the wash until
you reach the cache.
To reach the big rock art panel from the cache, head south in the
bottom of the wash for about a quarter mile, then work your way
west another quarter of a mile. You'll have to downclimb a short
cliff before you get to the rock art, but I climbed up it in the
snow without much difficulty.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre ebpxf