Thompson Hole

[Udink]

This was kind of a long drive for such a short hike. I went down the Tidwell Draw road in the Swell to the San Rafael River, then hiked into Thompson Hole to find a geocache and some petroglyphs. Thompson Hole is an abandoned river meander where the San Rafael cuts through the Reef, and there's an old bulldozed road leading into the bottom. There's a new (within the past few weeks) "No Vehicles" sign just before the road descends, however, so I parked there and walked the rest of the way. I hiked about two miles and spent two hours looking for rock art in the area. Afterward I intended to hike a couple of small drainages in the San Rafael Reef north of there, but in the nearly-100-degree heat I wasn't feeling up to it.


Thompson Hole panorama



The Jeep parked on the San Rafael Reef above the river



WSA sign before the road descends into Thompson Hole



At first I thought I was seeing Indian ruins, but these are just rock walls to keep cattle from wandering



Sharpening grooves



Grinding marks



San Rafael River



Petroglyphs












Cowboy glyphs



More petroglyphs at a second panel






Exploring a small side-canyon



Climbing out of Thompson Hole



It was only 91 degrees when I finished hiking, but I saw a high of 98 on the drive out





Full photo gallery:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/ThompsonHole

[accadacca]

Its starting to warm up around for sure! Nice report.