Exploring the Great Gallery

The Great Gallery is the largest pictographs site in Canyonlands National Park. It sits in a detached portion of the Park known as Horseshoe Canyon. The Gallery is about 200 feet long, 15 feet high, and contains dozens of greater-than life size pictographs. Pictographs are rock paintings, as distinguished from petroglyphs, which are figures etched into rock with a sharp stone.

These are done in the "Barrier Canyon" style, and are estimated to be at least 2,000 years old, created by artists who predate the Anasazi and Fremont Indian cultures. There are dozens of large human shapes, lacking arms or legs, with highly stylized heads. One striking cluster of images is known as the "Great Ghost and Attendants" - anchored by a seven-foot main figure with a crown-like head.

We had decided to put the Gallery on our trip itinerary due to the spectacular rock art, and then had to figure out the logistics. Horseshoe Canyon is quite a ways west of the main portion of Canyonlands. The only way to get to the Gallery is to hike down over 800 feet to the bottom of the Canyon, and then hike in about four miles. We stayed overnight in the only "nearby" town, Hanksville, Utah. This is a barely more than a bend in the road, and what little town there normally is had been partially washed away in a flash flood a week before we arrived!

From Hanksville, it's a about 1-1/2 hours on a two-lane road and 30 miles of dirt track. You park at a small trailhead at the top of the Canyon, then descend the 800 feet over slickrock. The trail is only marked by rock cairns, but the way down is not particularly difficult.

Then it's about a 4 mile hike up the Canyon floor. The terrain varies from rock slabs, to loose sand, to boulders, to sand, to firmer creek bed, and back to more sand. Not technically difficult, but tiring. We were very glad we had brought our hiking poles, for balance and to equalize the load from our camera/tripod packs.

The trail notes said to take lots of water, and we did. Good thing; there's noting potable in the Canyon, and even in November it gets warm at the bottom. The hike in took us over three hours, including some stops to look at minor sites along the way.

The Gallery itself is nothing short of spectacular. It sits in a natural cove, shaded by the overhanging rock. There is a comfortable viewing area at the base of the canyon wall; the Park Service has placed two small benches and some binoculars there. A small creek was burbling along the Canyon floor the day we were there, adding a pleasant sonic backdrop to the visual feast.  The video at the top of the page gives an idea of the Gallery and its surroundings.

The panel is amazing. The anthropomorphic figures stretch across the 200 feet, in clusters of three to six large figures, plus smaller human and animal forms sprinkled in. There is a powerful air of mystery at the Gallery; the figures seem to cross over from our tangible world into another, one with less substance and more magic.

We stayed over an hour at the Gallery, getting large-scale shots, panoramas, and close-ups. There are an infinite number of possible photographs here, as one looks for different points of interest and tries to capture the power of the scene - a very difficult task.

We finally packed up and headed back down the Canyon. We were making better time, but we realized after 2+ hours of hiking that we were in an area of huge (think SUV-sized!) boulders that we did not recognize. We had missed the trail up and out of the Canyon! This was serious, because it was starting to get dark in the Canyon and the air was cooling down quickly without direct sunlight. We had our light jackets and hats, fleece vests, but no heavy layers. And we had finished almost all our water.

We quickly started backtracking, trying to locate the trail out. About half a mile back, we spotted another hiker part way up the trail, and then found the very small cairn that marks the bottom of the trail. We headed up, and I have to say the 800 feet were a lot longer and steeper going up than they had been coming down in the morning. The temperature continued to drop, and we hiked towards the top as fast as we could, trying to stay ahead of the failing light.

The top of the trail finally emerged, and we slogged back to the rental SUV, shucked our packs, started the engine, and turned the heater up full blast. We were at the edge of hypothermia, and very glad to be out of the wind! After warming up a bit and chugging more water, we headed back to Hanksville to retrieve our luggage and set out for that night's destination. The hotel owners admitted they were starting to get concerned about us—and for good reason, as a night in the Canyon would have been a seriously dangerous adventure.

While we were exhausted, we agreed it had been a spectacular day.