Seven Mile Canyon

Seven Mile Canyon is located about 10 miles northwest of Moab along Utah 313; the road to the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park.

There are three good petroglyphs panels here, as well as Barrier Canyon style pictograph panel, where the north and south forks of the canyon meet.  (Look for the well-worn paths leading from the road to the cliff face.)

The first panel features three large sheep with rectangular bodies and very short legs.   The heads are tiny and have short horns (the head of one has chipped away).   Below the sheep are two small animals, one that looks like a duck with sheep horns (probably a baby), and another that might be a bird with a long tail.  These are similar to figures in Moqui Canyon, and were probably done by Fremont Indians.

The second panel is heavily patinated.  There are triple zigzag lines, circles, a star, abstract figures, stylized anthromopomorphs, a few sheep, a rows of dots, and a 6-foot snake.  The anthropomorphs are not done is Fremont style.

A third petroglyph panel is downstream.  It consists of two small sheep, and about 50 feet away, two circle figures.

The Barrier style pictograph panel contains several faint figures, and is located just to the west of the first two petroglyph panels.  These 2-4 foot figures have blue eyes, and the large figure has a blue snake in its mouth.  It is believed that the Late Archaic people painted these between 2500 and 1500 years ago.

There are several small caves in the vicinity, some of which have smoke-stained walls, chipped stone and a few grooves in the sandstone that were probably used to sharpen tools.