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Horseshoe
Canyon contains what is probably the finest display
of prehistoric Indian rock art in the United States.
The famous Great Gallery, largest of several Horseshoe
Canyon sites, is 200 feet long, 15 feet high, and contains
dozens of intriguing red, brown, and white pictographs.
The paintings are at least 2,000 years old, and possibly
as old as 8,000 years. Rock art is notoriously difficult
to date accurately, but from the style we can be reasonably
certain that the work was done by the so called Archaic
People who lived in the area before the arrival of the
Anasazi and Fremont Indian cultures. Archaic clay figurines
that closely mimic the pictographs have been found about
nine miles away in Spur Fork, a tributary of Horseshoe
Canyon, and the figurines have been dated to about 4700
B.C.
For years archaeologists
have struggled to interpret the strange anthromorphs
that are depicted on the Great Gallery. In addition
to many smaller figures, the huge panel contains about
twenty life size human shapes, all of which have a strange
mummy-like appearance. They lack arms or legs, and often
have huge insect-like eyes and bucket-shaped heads.
Most intriguing of all is the figure known as the “Holy
Ghost”. This seven-foot-high painting stands out
among the others because of its size and its ethereal
appearance. Perhaps it was intended to portray a revered
ancestor, or a mythical deity.
From
the car parking area, the trail proceeds into the canyon
along an old jeep road originally built by an oil exploration
company. A barrier has been erected across the trail
about 0.2 mile from the car park to keep recreational
vehicles out, and another barrier has been placed 0.5
mile farther down to keep cattle out of the canyon.
The trail finally reaches the canyon bottom 1.3 miles
from the trailhead, then turns south along Barrier Creek.
There is seldom running water in Barrier Creek, but
the canyon is rarely completely dry either.
As you drop into the canyon
you can see another jeep road descending from the opposite
rim. This primitive road meets the trail at the canyon
bottom, and for a while you will be walking on it. The
road ends 0.6 mile upstream, just beyond the intersection
of Water Canyon, where the Park Service has erected
another barrier to keep vehicles out of upper Horseshoe
Canyon.
As you approach Water
Canyon be sure to watch for the first two pictograph
sites, one on each side of the canyon. The trail passes
right by them. These sites, like the other two that
you will see later, were painted by the Archaic People
between 2,000 and 8,000 years ago. The third site is
situated in a huge alcove on the west side of the stream,
about 0.6 mile up-canyon from the first two. Unfortunately
the alcove site has sustained substantial damage, both
natural and man-caused, and it is not as impressive
as the others.
Finally, 1.3 miles from
the alcove site, or 3.7 miles from the beginning of
the trail, you will come to the Great Gallery. This
display of rock art has been called the Louvre of the
Southwest, and, indeed, it is a phenomenal relic of
the past. Dozens of intricate human and animal figures
decorate the panel, mostly in red, with some brown and
white. The pigments were made from finely ground minerals,
and then mixed with a liquid base, perhaps animal tallow
or vegetable juices, to form a crude paint. After thousands
of years all traces of the base have disappeared, but
the mineral coloring still adheres to the rock and the
paintings remain preserved in astonishing detail.
If you have sharp eyes,
and if you are willing to walk just a little further,
this hike will reward you with another unexpected bonus.
About 0.2 mile upstream from the Great Gallery, Barrier
Creek flows over a small slab of flat sandstone that
appears harder and darker than the surrounding stone.
Look carefully at the dark, flat surface near the west
side of the creek, and you will see the tracks of a
three-toed dinosaur that passed this way between 50
and 100 million years ago. The imprints are about ten
inches in diameter, and there are at least three of
them, spaced about four feet apart.
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Distance:
7.4 miles (round trip)