For my fourth and final trip to Nine Mile Canyon of 2014, Chris and I took Karin and Katie and our dogs on an easy tour of some of the better rock art. We made a quick stop in the upper part of the canyon to see a pit house that I'd driven past many times but had never stopped to look at. It turned out to not be very interesting, but the dogs appreciated getting out of the vehicles for a few minutes.
The remains of a pit house
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9...0/IMG_0646.JPG
Cooper running along a ridge
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l...0/IMG_0647.JPG
All four dogs
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_0648.JPG
WJ and WK2
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_0651.JPG
Next we hiked up to some of my favorite petroglyphs, one of which I found on my first trip there in 2014. We also saw some new-to-me petroglyphs during the hike. I'd noticed some of them from far away on my earlier trip but had descended well below them and didn't feel like climbing back up at the time. Now I know that it would have been worth my while to climb back up! There were a lot of really well-made and interesting petroglyphs spread out across the cliff line, along with a couple of small slab-lined granaries at the base of the cliffs.
Tethered sheep, one of my favorite petroglyphs in Nine Mile
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_0655.JPG
Torrey, Chance, and Karin carrying Cooper
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...0/IMG_0657.JPG
Long-necked sheep
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/IMG_0658.JPG
WJ and WK2 parked below
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s...0/IMG_0663.JPG
Katie has the dogs' full attention
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...0/IMG_0664.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S...0/IMG_0676.JPG
Guy with small arms holding something
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J...0/IMG_0677.JPG
Figures and dots
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...0/IMG_0681.JPG
Hands up, don't shoot
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U...0/IMG_0685.JPG
Hiking along a cliff line
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W...0/IMG_0688.JPG
Slab-lined granary
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...0/IMG_0695.JPG
Sheep and dog
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...0/IMG_0706.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X...0/IMG_0710.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4...0/IMG_0714.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_0725.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D...0/IMG_0730.JPG
Karin and Cooper
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...0/IMG_0742.JPG
Hiking back down
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M...0/IMG_0745.JPG
We drove to another spot to check out some rock art that Alan had told me about but I hadn't visited yet. Just a short distance from where we parked, Katie's dog Chance got caught in a leg-hold trap. I freed him from the trap and luckily he was unharmed. We leashed our dogs up and continued hiking toward the rock art, keeping a wary eye out for more traps. There was more good rock art at this spot, along with a very cool 1888 inscription by Enoch Rhoades.
Trap that Katie's dog, Chance, got caught in
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...0/IMG_0750.JPG
Torrey and Boulder on-leash
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V...0/IMG_0752.JPG
Chris and a petroglyph
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...0/IMG_0755.JPG
Full curl
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...0/IMG_0759.JPG
Tethered deer
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Q...0/IMG_0760.JPG
Another tethered deer
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...0/IMG_0762.JPG
Chris coming down from a sketchy climb
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_0776.JPG
Petroglyphs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/IMG_0779.JPG
Faint zig-zag pictograph
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_0796.JPG
Zig-zag pictograph enhanced with DStretch
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...G_0796_yrd.JPG
A faint 1888 Enoch Rhoades inscription
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_0797.JPG
Enoch Rhoades initials
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-W...0/IMG_0803.JPG
View up Nine Mile Canyon
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0...0/IMG_0805.JPG
To wind down the trip we stopped at a few well-known, touristy locations, but I still managed to spot some rock art I hadn't seen before. Some snowy weather started moving in to the canyon as we were driving out. I'd had a very fruitful trip and I hope it was a good intro to Nine Mile for the others.
White pictographs
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/IMG_0807.JPG
Petroglyphs near the Big Buffalo
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m...0/IMG_0808.JPG
Petroglyphs near the Big Buffalo
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...0/IMG_0810.JPG
Big Buffalo
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-O...0/IMG_0811.JPG
I though the BLM was supposed to remove this?
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...0/IMG_0812.JPG
Petroglyphs near Pig Head Rock
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/IMG_0818.JPG
Boulder during the drive home
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_0826.JPG
Hazy sun getting lower in the sky
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...0/IMG_0828.JPG
Photo Gallery: Nine Mile Canyon IV
