Quail Panel and Funk's Cave

[Udink]

On Saturday morning as I drove south out of town it was a chilly 30 degrees at sunrise. I was heading into the San Rafael Swell east of Ferron to find some rock art that a friend had told me about years ago. The last mile or so of the dirt road leading into the area was washed out badly so I parked the Jeep, leashed up the dogs, and hoofed it. By then it was warm enough that I was comfortable removing my jacket hiking in just a t-shirt. Instead of heading straight toward the rock art, I first checked out a nearby line of cliffs for other rock art or old pioneer/cowboy writings, but found none. I arrived at the rock art, known as the Quail Panel (I suppose because many of the figures have topknots like quail), and found it in poor lighting conditions, half in sunlight and half shaded. There was once a long row of small Fremont figures bearing shields that look like fat little men, each one different in color and shape. Many of the figures are now faded from exposure to the elements while others have spalled off the sandstone despite being sheltered.


Driving south at sunup



Washed-out road



Hiking across the flats



Faces in the Entrada Sandstone



Quail Panel's small alcove



Quail Panel in poor lighting conditions, half-sun and half-shade



Pictographs that have spalled off



A few of the better-preserved pictographs



Full-sunlight shot of some faded pictographs



Faded pictographs processed in DStretch to bring out more detail



I wasn't specifically aware of any more rock art in the area, but it seemed a likely spot to find more. I hiked around quite a bit more, eventually spending six hours in the area and hiking nearly six miles total. I found an area with a couple of outlined Fremont figures and a strange yellow, white, and red pictograph. That site is heavily used as a shelter by cattle so the ground was covered in shit, but I did manage to find some pieces of plain gray pottery there. Nearby I found some flint chippings at the base of the cliffs, along with a shed snake skin. I also spotted a few petroglyphs a short distance away and found two flat grinding stones there.


Interesting erosion layer on a boulder



There were still a few Aster flowers in bloom



Fossil shell



Two Fremont figure outlines



Pictographs and cow pies



This is a really odd pictograph and the colors are unusually vibrant for such an unsheltered location



Closeup of white and yellow pigments



Typical plain gray pottery pieces



Boulder and Torrey drinking muddy water



Snake skin



Horseshoe



Petroglyph panel



Right side of petroglyph panel



Flat grinding stone



Walking stick insect



As I was making my way back toward the Jeep in the afternoon I found some more pictographs under a shallow overhang that I recognized as Funk's Cave. There were several interesting Fremont figures on the back wall near a quite remarkable rainbow pictograph. Most rock art rainbows I've seen consist of one or two colors (usually just red, or red and white), but this one had five or six colors. Among the figures in the overhang was a very faded white one that I really liked--it must have looked great when it was fresh. I continued toward the Jeep and found a couple of boulders with old names and initials from the late 1800s and early 1900s along with a couple of less interesting petroglyphs. I got back to the Jeep feeling pretty good about having found much more than I was expecting.


Rainbow pictograph in Funk's Cave



Rainbow pictograph



White handprint pictograph



Four figures in Funk's Cave



There are at least two colors in use here; you can see the sash across the chest pretty clearly



Faded white figure



Levi Je(e)nsen, Apr 1, 1908



My trusty Jeep waiting for me at the end of the hike





Full photo gallery:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis....elAndFunkSCave

[Byron]

Nice man...little treasure hunt you had going on there. Those fossils are especially fun to find.