Hike-in Required
No
ADA accessible
No
Guided tours
No
Please respect the outdoors by practicing Leave No Trace. Learn more about how to apply the principles of Leave No Trace on your next outdoor adventure here.

The Buckhorn Wash Panel is located in a remote desert canyon without all that much else around. Chances are you will only be passing between two places, but you should certainly stop by Buckhorn Wash to check out the ancient pictographs. Also, those who paddle the San Rafael River can see them on the way out.

The Barrier Canyon Style, in which these unusual pictographs were painted, dates back 7,000 years and was painted by the archaic and enigmatic ancestors of the modern Native Americans. The paint was made from a mix of natural pigments in oxidized iron, blood, pitch, plants, minerals, and many other unknown substances. It is amazing that the paint has lasted this long in the exposed environment. There are many figures here, and they are common to the other nearby sites in the same style, where serpents, snakes, and strange ceremonial anthropomorphic creatures abound.

Logistics + Planning

Preferable season(s)

Summer
Fall

Congestion

Low

Parking Pass

Not Required

Pros

Great native pictographs.

Cons

Remote.

Pets allowed

Not Allowed

Features

Geologically significant

Location

Nearby Lodging + Camping

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