Between Grand Junction, CO and Moab, UT, just before the turnoff to Moab, are the pictographs and petroglyphs of Sego Canyon and the old ghost town of Sego. These are just calling our names - it’s time for some adventures. We awoke, ate a quick breakfast, cleaned the windshield, hitched up the Jeep and pointed our RV west.
For the first 20 or so miles, we were watching the temperature gauge warily. On our trip to Grand Junction several weeks ago, after about 8 miles of driving, we could see that old temperature gauge marching up until it hit high, squealed and our engine light came on telling us to stop. Every time we started the engine up. Today, we watched, the temp gauge hit the middle and stay there. Whew. Maybe it really is fixed.
We crossed the border (looks like life is elevated only as high as 4760’.
We hit the Welcome Center where a volunteer pulled out a copied page about Sego Canyon and turned off at the next exit which was Thompson Springs. I went into the truck stop, got up the the counter with 2 sodas and some chips and asked if we could park our RV there, unhitch the Jeep and head up into the canyon. How could she say ‘no’ when I had such fine purchases? And, of course she didn’t.
Now what makes the Sego Canyon pictographs and petroglyphs so interesting and important is that there are both pictographs and petroglyphs and that they represent 3 different styles, the Barrier Canyon style possibly from 6000 - 8000 BC, the Fremont style from 1000 - 1150 AD and the Ute style form the 1800’s. Obviously, these canyons have been inhabited throughout the years.
The Barrier Canyon drawings look like aliens with round horned heads and hollow eyes. I can easily picture these ghostlike creatures appearing in early sci-fi movies on TV. Note the absence of arms and legs. The artists were probably a nomadic people who used this canyon as a seasonal home during their travels, living in caves without any permanent structures. This panel was painted with natural colors.
The Fremont style usually portray triangular figures in geometric shapes some with stick-like arms and some without. There are two distinct styles of Fremont art. The red figures at the top, which are difficult to see since they seem to have faded a bit, are the older style while the lower figures are the more recent Fremont style.
The Ute style is of animals such as buffaloes and deer which were important to them since they were primarily hunters.
While I was there I met a woman from Rhode Island, where I lived and taught from 1968 - 1971. She was also a Girl Scout and knew a lot of kids who attended Camp Hoffman in southern Rhode Island where I was a swimming instructor for 2 years and a Waterfront Director for a year. How small is this world?
Next we walked on to find the ghost town of Sego which thrived from the early 1900’s when coal was used as a fuel but was deserted in the 1950’s when trains turned to diesel. There were a variety of roads and canyons in this area and it was difficult to find the actual town of Sego. We did find the cemetery and a few homes. If we had had the Jeep, we would have been able to cover more territory but, on foot, we were a bit limited.
But, even if we didn’t find the whole ghost town, we enjoyed the walk among the colorful, layered rocks.
Then it was on to Moab where we had a campsite reserved. Full hook-ups and a chance to do some laundry. Amazing how much laundry we’ve got after 2 weeks. We might spend all our time in Moab in laundry. Never. We have one day in Moab, 2 months of things to see and we’ve no time to spend on laundry, except in the evening.
2, 278'. big deal.
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