Driving out of Canyonlands Islands in the Sky District to head over to the Horseshoe district.

Driving out of Canyonlands Islands in the Sky District to head over to the Horseshoe district.

We spy the rocks of Arches National Park in the distance.

The San Rafael Reef pokes out in the distance. Beautiful!

Driving in the ~30 miles to the Horseshoe district. It's a long drive on dirt but worth it.

Beautiful sand dunes on the drive to the Horseshoe District.

Beautiful sand dunes on the drive to the Horseshoe District.

Beautiful sand dunes on the drive to the Horseshoe District.

At the trailhead we found this description of the hike. Every description was different. I think this was about the average distance/elevation gain among the many descriptions we found.

Will do!

We descend through different layers of sandstone types.

We'll drop into the canyon and then hike down the canyon to find the glyphs.

Dinosaur print!

Very cool section of trail through here

The trail will take us down there.

Not even once.

The trail switchbacks down a couple hundred feet to the bottom of the canyon.

At the bottom of the canyon.

It isn't long until we spy the first set of pictographs.

This is the High Gallery, so named because it's, well, high up on the wall.

The High Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon Canyonlands

The High Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon Canyonlands

Close by, on the other side of the canyon, we find this other panel.

This panel is mostly human shaped figures

Human and abstract

Human and abstract

Human and abstract

I think this is one of my favorites. Man's best friend for a long time!

A hunter panel with Elk and a Buffalo

The rock art has already blown us away and we haven't even gotten to the Great Gallery. It is further down the canyon so we keep going.

The alcove on the right is inviting....

We see some more pictographs, not the great gallery yet though.

This panel was faded a bit

People for scale

Closer to a panel in the alcove. There is more vandalism here since the panel is lower and more accessible.

Person for scale

Figures in the alcove

I love the horns on the guy on the right

Some faded human figures

Wider shot of the alcove for scale

Back in the canyon

Looking back on the alcove

It's a beautiful hike down the canyon, even without the pictographs!

David below some rocks

We finally spy the Great Gallery.

There are several visitors and an interpretive ranger here.

The figures in this panel are life sized, and even bigger - some as tall as seven feet.