Over my years of walking, we’ve been fortunate to see various rock images in the backcountry.
These pictographs and petroglyphs fascinate me because of the stories they tell. People came this way, traveled the paths we walk today, and lived their lives in the areas I’m now visiting.
I thought I’d gather some of our favorites because of their striking imagery, what they may represent, their historical interest, and other facets that caught my attention.
These images are mainly from the Colorado Plateau in Utah. Still, I also have images from nearby Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as places farther afield, such as Nevada, the High Plains, Texas, and as far as Wisconsin and even north of Banff. As of July 2026, I’ve included over 200 images in this gallery.
I often get asked where I find these images. For the better-known ones, such as Newspaper Rock, I list their locations. The more obscure ones? Well, I’ll leave them vague. 🙂
As I’ve mentioned before, I am not any -ologist scientist, and I’m a person of European background. I can’t speak to the meaning of the images, nor am I an authority on their history or possible context. But I am an enthusiast and have seen a fair amount of them over the years.
If you want to know more about these images in general, the classic, if somewhat outdated in name, is Indian Rock Art of the Southwest by Polly Schaafsma. This book takes a deeper dive, with an academic focus, and explores connections to Mesoamerica.
For more information on the Ancestral Pueblo and Chaco culture in particular, People of Chaco stands as a good one-volume introduction.
For up-to-date information and lively debates on many topics, I enjoy watching Archaeology Southwest on YouTube.
If you want a deep dive into the place names and history of the area, the two-volume Utah’s Canyon Country Place Names by Steve Allen makes for quite the wormhole. Expensive, but worth it for any Colorado Plateau enthusiast.
Finally, not everything is in a guidebook or on a map. In the words of a great philosopher: “You can observe a lot by just watching.“
