Hiking and Petroglyphs

The weather forecast for today included rain and possible thunderstorms, so we decided to stay out of slot canyons and washes, which eliminated some of the possible hikes. We were hoping the weather would improve during the day.

We started out by driving to the Panorama Point turnout, where you can access the unpaved road to two short trails. We hiked first to the Goosenecks overlook, where you can see Sulphur Creek Canyon. The creek that creates the canyon winds its way around, and the resulting loops are called "goosenecks." Erosion has revealed layers of rock from different formations, all with bright colors to delight the eye.

When we returned to the parking area, we found the trailhead for the Sunset Point trail, which we followed to the top for more spectacular views (which are said to be even more spectacular near sunset, but with the clouds today, we doubted we'd have a chance to see that).

Next we drove to the Fruita Campground, the only developed campground in the park. We found several sites that we could fit, although most sites are too short for large RVs, or would be difficult to back into. The campground is located in an orchard area and is quite appealing.

We got to the Petroglyphs viewpoint in time to join a ranger talk on the people who created these images, the Fremont people, who lived in this area but are thought by some experts to have been a separate culture from the Anasazi. The ranger talked about some of the artifacts that differentiate the Fremont from the Anasazi, including "a distinctive rock art style used in pictographs, petroglyphs, and clay figures depicting trapezoidal human figures bedecked in necklaces and blunt hairstyles."
The figures appear to have very broad shoulders.

We finally got to take a short walk around the park this evening. We spotted a really unusual motorhome that caught our eye because the slideout was so unusual. The owner was outside, and he invited us in. It turned out to be the shake-down cruise for a new Krystal motor home, made by a California company that makes custom built limousines and such. They've quit making the motor homes, but this man found his on the Internet. The slideouts are air-sealed. Everything seemed quite luxurious and well crafted.