South Fork Indian Canyon Pictographs

Day two of our trip, with John and Mary, and we were ready to search for a large cliff dwelling that we knew existed in a remote canyon.  Those plans were quickly put away when we came to a locked gate and a “No Trespassing” sign (we’ll get there, but we’ll need to do it another day when we’re prepared to hike 7-miles (r/t) through BLM land).  Oh well!  On to Plan B and an exploration of the South Fork Indian Canyon Petroglyphs.

This was a fun UTV trip that allowed us to visit the backside of Coral Pink Sand Dunes.  After a great ride (surprisingly we saw no one going in and only one person coming out) we enjoyed a short, but scenic hike, to a large pictograph panel tucked away in an alcove of Indian Canyon.  What a great way to spend a sun-filled Friday afternoon in late February!

On the road again . . . 

Lots of coral pink sand!

We are headed into the canyon to see some pictographs

After a night at the LaQuinta Chipper should be well rested, but he looks sleepy

Looking east into South Fork of Indian Canyon 

There is a trail and it's only one mile RT

The north facing side of the canyon was shaded and icy

Farther down the trail the cliff walls got taller 

Here we are . . . South Fork Indian Canyon Pictographs

The sign says . . . the paintings still speak, listen . . . what do you hear?

They tell a story

The colors are made from plants, roots and ochre

Chipper, Kent & Allison on the boardwalk

The alcove protects the pictographs from sunshine, precipitation and wind 

Hmmm....

It's mustard man!

We stopped to view the canyon on our way back up . . . good thing there is a fence!

Now we are headed up another finger of the canyon

Wow, look at this alcove full of icicles and colorful streaked sandstone walls!

John is carefully working his way down to where Allison is,
so he can get a good view of the icicles

The sun doesn't shine here!

Thanks John & Mary for another fun adventure!

 

Starlight Cave

It was one year ago that we made a trip with our good friends, John & Mary, to explore the area around Mollies Nipple.  We’d made plans to go back, in early March of 2020, with their UTV’s and camp for a night while we did a few hikes in the area.  Then Covid struck and everything was placed on hold.  Fast forward one year and two vaccine shots later and they were ready, once again, to “get after it!"

Our plan for this day was to hike to Starlight Cave – a little known and even less visited cave of the GSENM that holds some fantastic pictographs from the ancient Basketmaker People.  We were thankful for John and Mary’s UTV’s that brought us to the base of Mollies Nipple where we began our six-mile (r/t) hike through hoodoo country enroute to this amazing cave.

John & Mary, graciously, brought along their Side-by-Sides for our adventure
These "machines" saved us miles of walking a sandy road on foot!

Boy, does this picture bring back memories! 
 Eleven months ago we walked this road with Tom on our way to the top of Mollies Nipple! 

We worked our way north and east across the base of Mollies Nipple
(We probably started a little high and should have dropped down another 300 ft,
but we would have missed a lot of unique rock formations)

John found this cool rock . . . actually he found several!

Hoodoos started popping up everywhere

One could spend hours here . . . there's so much to see!
(We could have made a post entirely devoted to this section of the route)

A balanced rock . . . so cool!

Kent has a plan . . . Starlight Cave is out there . . . somewhere!

After a couple of hours of rambling and criss-crossing several sandy drainages,
We realize that the 'crow doesn't fly' a short enough path to Starlight Cave
John & Mary head back as Kent & Allison will continue on . . . 

Mollies Nipple is now out of sight
New colorful formations pop up along the way

According to Kent's GPS coordinates, the cave should be in this canyon . . . 
But the question is where?

After a few missteps we finally found it!
Starlight Cave is directly in front of Allison's shadow

These were some of the most colorful pictographs in the cave

Possibly a Kokopelli??

Surprisingly, the pictographs were quite large
(Some were two to three feet high)

Looking to the outside from the back of the cave
(We could stand up with no problem)

Is this a demon with evil eyes or a skull with bull horns??
(It's unfortunate that someone added graffiti to the cave walls)

Could this be an elk??  Those look like big antlers

This one has cute feet

The view as we exit the cave 

This stream flowed in the canyon near the mouth of the cave 
Kent is emptying his shoes of sand before heading back to meet up with John & Mary 

Chipper enjoyed finding snow to munch on . . .
That's one dirty and sandy Dalmatian!
(But boy did he have fun!)

 Mollies Nipple comes into view . . . that means we are almost back! 

Navajo Mountain (AZ) in the distance
Starlight Arch is part of the large formation on the right . . .
We were just there two weeks ago!

We could definitely spend more time here . . .
Kent thinks we'll return & possibly circle the base of Mollies Nipple 

Some of these hoodoos are huge!

Colorful swirling sandstone

Wow!  What a great day!  It was full of amazing scenery, hoodoos, pictographs
and our first ride in a Side-by-Side!