Rock Art Recon

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Rock Art Recon

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Rock Art Recon, formerly Sanpete Trail Hunter, explores the stories, history, and mystery behind rock art sites across the American West through on-location commentary, cinematic storytelling, and a deep respect for the people who came before us.

09/25/2026

There are places in Utah where the landscape feels like more than scenery. Nine Mile Canyon is one of those places.

In this episode of Rock Art Recon, I make my first stop in Nine Mile Canyon and begin exploring a landscape filled with sandstone cliffs, ancient trails, and the marks left behind by people who lived here long before us.

The first site is a reminder that you don't always have to find the largest or most famous panel to feel a connection to the past. Sometimes, it's the quieter places—the weathered rock, a small panel, the canyon itself—that make you stop and wonder who stood here, what they saw, and what compelled them to leave something behind.

I'm not here to sensationalize these places or claim to know everything about the people who created the art. I'm here to look, listen, learn, and hopefully leave these places with the same respect I brought with me.

Nine Mile Canyon isn't just a road through the desert. It's a journey through layers of time.

Come along for the first site.

📍 Nine Mile Canyon, Utah
🎥 Rock Art Recon
🏜️ Ancient landscapes • Rock art • Utah history • Backcountry exploration

If you enjoy exploring Utah's lesser-known archaeological landscapes, subscribe and come along for the journey.

Remember: Respect the rock. Respect the place. Leave no trace.

There are places in Utah where the landscape feels like more than s...

09/24/2026

New video "LAST" Friday (09/18/2026)!

Mussentuchit Wash Petroglyphs

There are places in the Utah desert where the silence feels different.

Mussentuchit Wash is one of those places.

Scattered across the stone are images left behind by people who knew this landscape long before roads, towns, and modern boundaries ever existed. Figures, symbols, and marks remain etched into the rock—quietly enduring beneath the same skies that once stretched above their creators.

But the people who made them are gone.

Their voices are gone.

And much of what these images meant to them has disappeared with time.

What remains is the stone.

And the questions.

Who stood here? What did they see? What stories were being remembered, shared, or passed from one generation to another? Were these images connected to everyday life, ceremony, belief, the animals around them—or something we simply no longer have the context to understand?

We may never know.

And perhaps that's part of what makes places like Mussentuchit Wash so compelling.

In this episode of Rock Art Recon, I venture into this remote Utah landscape to explore its petroglyphs and spend some time with the stories written into the stone.

Not to tell the ancient people what they believed.

Not to turn unanswered questions into easy answers.

But simply to stand where they once stood, look at what they left behind, and wonder.

Because sometimes the most powerful part of history isn't what we know.

It's what remains just beyond our understanding.

The desert remembers.

We just have to be quiet enough to listen.

Rock Art Recon
Exploring Utah's ancient landscapes, one trail at a time.

Please help protect these places. Archaeological sites and rock art are fragile and irreplaceable. Look, learn, photograph—and leave the past where you found it.

Mussentuchit Wash Petroglyphs | The Stories We Can No Longer Hear...

09/11/2026

Some places in the San Rafael Swell demand your attention.

Others make you slow down.

The pictographs at Head of Sinbad are the kind of place that can leave you standing quietly, wondering about the people who came here long before us. Hidden within the rugged landscape of central Utah, these ancient images are more than markings on a rock. They are traces of human presence, thought, and expression—small pieces of a story that began long before our own.

Standing in front of them, I find myself thinking less about having all the answers and more about the questions.

Who created these images?
What did they mean to the people who made them?
Why here?
And what can we learn simply by taking the time to look?

That is what Rock Art Recon is about.

Not chasing the biggest panel.
Not turning ancient places into attractions.
Not pretending we understand everything we see.

It’s about getting boots on the ground, slowing down, paying attention, and trying to understand these places with the respect they deserve.

The San Rafael Swell is filled with remarkable rock art, but sometimes the quieter sites are the ones that stay with you the longest.

Because every panel has a story.

And sometimes, the most important part of the story is simply taking the time to listen.

Rock Art Recon
Exploring the ancient landscapes of Utah. One panel, one trail, and one story at a time.

If you enjoy exploring Utah’s rock art, archaeology, history, and forgotten places, consider liking, subscribing, and joining me on the next recon.

Some places in the San Rafael Swell demand your attention.Others ...

09/04/2026

Lone Warrior Panel | San Rafael Swell, Utah

Hidden among the towering sandstone cliffs of Utah’s San Rafael Swell is a small but fascinating piece of the past—the Lone Warrior Panel.

Painted onto the sandstone is a solitary human figure, often described as a warrior carrying a shield and possibly a spear. The image is faded, weathered, and easy to overlook, but that is part of what makes standing in front of it so powerful. After centuries of exposure to sunlight, wind, and the elements, only a portion of the original image remains clearly visible.

The Lone Warrior is sometimes discussed in connection with Barrier Canyon Style rock imagery, although the exact cultural and chronological classification of individual panels like this one can be difficult to determine. Rock imagery doesn't always give us easy answers—and perhaps that's part of its enduring mystery.

What struck me about this site is its simplicity. There isn't a massive panel filled with dozens of figures. There is just one figure, standing alone on a vast sandstone wall.

Who created it?
Who was this figure meant to represent?
What did this image mean to the person who painted it?

We may never know.

And that's okay.

Places like the Lone Warrior Panel remind us that not every archaeological site has to be famous or spectacular to be important. Sometimes, a single faded figure on a canyon wall is enough to make us stop, look, and think about the people who came before us.

In this episode, I take a closer look at the Lone Warrior Panel and the surrounding landscape of the San Rafael Swell—and reflect on what it means to encounter ancient rock imagery in a place where the past is still written into the stone.

Please help protect these places. Rock imagery is fragile and irreplaceable. Never touch, chalk, trace, or otherwise alter rock imagery, and leave artifacts exactly where you find them.

📍 San Rafael Swell, Utah
🏜️ Lone Warrior Panel
🎥 Sanpete Trail Hunter

Lone Warrior Panel | San Rafael Swell, UtahHidden among the tower...

08/29/2026

There are places in Utah that seem almost forgotten.

No towering ruins. No massive village. No famous canyon filled with tourists.

Just a few traces in the ground, some ancient stone, and evidence that people once stopped here, lived here, worked here, and left something behind.

Near US-10 and I-70 is one of those places.

This excavated site contains evidence of a pit house and ancient occupation, along with the kind of archaeological remains that can easily be overlooked when compared to Utah’s more well-known sites. Very little is known about this particular place, and that uncertainty is part of what makes it so interesting.

Pit houses were an important part of life for Fremont people throughout Utah. These semi-subterranean homes provided shelter from the elements and could serve as places for cooking, storage, work, and family life. Archaeological evidence shows that Fremont communities were often small, with people living in scattered farmsteads and hamlets rather than only in large, permanent settlements.

And then there are the petroglyphs.

Across Utah, ancient people left images carved into stone—human figures, animals, geometric designs, and countless markings whose meanings may never be fully understood. Petroglyphs give us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of people whose own names and stories have largely been lost to time. But we have to be careful not to assume we know exactly what every image meant.

Sites like this remind us that Utah's archaeological story isn't only found at the famous places.

Sometimes the most important places are the small ones.

A shallow depression in the ground may be all that remains of someone's home. A fragment of pottery may be the last physical evidence of a family who lived here a thousand years ago. A petroglyph may be one small piece of a story that was never meant to disappear—but simply wasn't passed down to us.

And that's why these places matter.

Every archaeological site adds another piece to the larger picture of the people who lived across Utah long before us. Even when we don't have all the answers, the site itself can still teach us something.

This video isn't about claiming to know everything about this particular location.

It's about slowing down, paying attention, and remembering that small sites matter too.

Because history doesn't always announce itself.

Sometimes, you have to look closely.

And sometimes, all that's left is a quiet place in the Utah desert—and the traces of someone who was here long before we were.

Please respect these places. Don't touch, climb on, alter, or remove anything from archaeological sites or rock art. These fragile resources belong to all of us, and once they're damaged, the information they contain can be lost forever.

There are places in Utah that seem almost forgotten.No towering r...

08/22/2026

Molen Seep, hidden along Molen Reef on the western edge of Utah’s San Rafael Swell, is one of those places where the desert feels less like scenery and more like a record of time.

Here, ancient Indigenous people left behind remarkable traces of their lives on the sandstone—faded red pictographs, pecked petroglyphs, human figures, animals, geometric designs, and other imagery that has endured for thousands of years.

Among the most striking images are the tall, mysterious red figures associated with what archaeologists call the Barrier Canyon Style. Later Fremont peoples added their own imagery to the landscape, creating layers of rock art that span different times, traditions, and generations.

We can't know exactly what every image meant. And perhaps that's part of what makes places like Molen Seep so powerful.

Standing in front of these ancient markings, you're reminded that the people who created them were real people who lived, hunted, traveled, struggled, celebrated, and passed through this landscape long before us.

The stone remembers what we can no longer hear.

In this Rock Art Recon journey, we take a closer look at Molen Seep, its ancient imagery, and the feeling of standing before something that has survived for thousands of years.

If you enjoy Utah's rock art, ancient landscapes, forgotten places, and stories written directly into the land, consider subscribing to **Rock Art Recon**.

**Please help protect these places:**
Never touch, chalk, trace, wet, or otherwise alter rock art. Leave artifacts where you find them and treat these sites with the respect they deserve. These aren't just drawings on rocks—they are irreplaceable pieces of human history.

Molen Seep, hidden along Molen Reef on the western edge of Utah’s S...

08/15/2026

High above Buckhorn Wash, the open flats of the San Rafael Swell tell a story of movement, survival, and time.

During the spring, these flats can transform into a carpet of green grass—a natural grazing ground that must have attracted abundant game at certain times of the year. For the Native peoples who traveled through this landscape, whether hunting, gathering, or simply passing through, this would have been a familiar and important place.

At the base of Little Cedar Mountain sits a relatively small rock art site: a single, massive boulder overlooking the vast plain below. Petroglyphs appear on several sides of the stone, and while the site may not be large, its setting is remarkable. The boulder stands in a commanding position, looking out across the same landscape that people and animals have occupied for generations.

What I find especially fascinating about this panel is the possibility that it represents more than one period of rock art. To my eye, some of the designs have characteristics that may be associated with older Archaic traditions, while others could potentially be more recent Fremont imagery.

Of course, interpreting rock art is complicated. Without knowing exactly what the artists intended, we have to be careful not to turn possibilities into certainties. What we can do is observe, compare, and appreciate the marks left behind—and consider what this place may have meant to the people who once stood here.

This is another quiet corner of the San Rafael Swell where the landscape itself becomes part of the story.

*Location:* Little Cedar Mountain / Buckhorn Wash area, San Rafael Swell, Utah

Please remember to respect these sites. Leave rock art untouched, don't chalk or trace the images, and help preserve these places for those who come after us.

High above Buckhorn Wash, the open flats of the San Rafael Swell te...

08/09/2026

RAR Ancient Echoes: Episode 16 - What the Stone Gives Back

What can ancient rock art teach us when we stop trying to explain it—and simply allow ourselves to experience it?

In this episode of Rock Art Recon, I return to Fremont Indian State Park in Utah to explore five very different rock art panels, including the incredible Newspaper Rock, Hunkup’s Train, Panel 96, and several remarkable Fremont petroglyph panels.

But this isn't an attempt to decode the Fremont people or assign modern meanings to ancient symbols.

That's not what Rock Art Recon is about.

I believe there is value in admitting when we simply don't know what an ancient image meant. These places deserve that humility and respect.

Instead, I approach these panels from a personal perspective.

What happens when I stand quietly in front of something created hundreds—or even a thousand—years ago?

What does it make me think about?

What can I take from the experience that helps me navigate the world I'm living in today?

Each of these panels leaves me with something different:

Find your center.
You don't have to understand the entire journey to take the next step.

Stay curious.
Hunkup's remarkable record of trains and houses reminds me how important it is to keep noticing the world around us.

Quiet the noise.
With more than 250 elements covering Newspaper Rock, I'm reminded how overwhelming life can become—and how important it is to decide what actually deserves our attention.

Change your perspective.
The enormous anthropomorphic figure of Panel 96 reminds me that sometimes a problem becomes so large because it's all we can see. Changing where we stand can change how we see it.

Remember the connections.
Our lives aren't straight lines. Every person, place, mistake, experience, and difficult trail becomes part of who we're still becoming.

I can't tell you exactly what these images meant to the people who created them.

And I'm okay with that.

The rock art belongs to their story.
The reflection belongs to mine.

That's the heart of Rock Art Recon.

Learn what we reasonably can.
Respect what we can't know.
Protect what's been left behind.

And occasionally, stand quietly enough to hear what the stone gives back.

📍 Fremont Indian State Park — Utah

Please remember that archaeological sites and rock art are irreplaceable. Never touch, trace, chalk, wet, climb on, or otherwise alter rock art. Leave these places exactly as you found them so they remain for the generations that follow us.

🎵 Song: What the Stone Gives Back
🎬 Series: RAR Ancient Echoes — Episode 16
🎤 Written by Swasey J
🎼 Red Earth Rhythm Edition

RAR Ancient Echoes: Episode 16 - What the Stone Gives BackWhat ca...

08/01/2026

The journey continues as we cross into Fremont Indian State Park to explore the remarkable Millcreek petroglyphs and pictographs found within the park's boundaries. These ancient images, created centuries ago, offer another fascinating glimpse into the lives, beliefs, and artistic traditions of the Fremont people.

In this second installment, we'll walk among incredible rock art panels, examine both carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs, and take time to appreciate the stories that still echo across this beautiful Utah landscape. While no one can say with certainty what every symbol means, their craftsmanship and enduring presence invite us to slow down, observe, and reflect on the people who left them behind.

This series isn't about sensational claims or wild speculation. It's about experiencing these places with curiosity, respect, and a desire to better understand the rich cultural history of the American Southwest.

If you missed Part I, be sure to watch it first as we explored the petroglyphs located just outside the park before continuing our journey inside Fremont Indian State Park.

If you enjoy exploring Utah's hidden history, ancient rock art, archaeology, and remote landscapes, subscribe to Rock Art Recon and join me on future adventures.

Help Protect These Cultural Treasures:

Leave all rock art exactly as you found it.
Never touch, chalk, wet, trace, or climb on rock art panels.
Respect archaeological sites and practice Leave No Trace principles.
Remember that these are sacred and irreplaceable connections to the past.

Thank you for exploring with me. Every panel tells a story—even if some chapters have been lost to time.

The journey continues as we cross into Fremont Indian State Park to...

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Manti, UT
84642

Website

http://nordellfilmandphoto.com/

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