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Show pavis Canyon Addition to Ca nyonlands National Park ": Provides Intimate Glimpse At Scenery, Archaeology l"y Slim M.ibory Oi November 15. 11171 an of Congress enlarged the md.uies of I'.invoul.iiuls .ittou.il Park by some l'7,(;U! rres. Among other scenic J inleivsung attractions ied to this nust colorful ( ail our national parks is a lule wide tract a long the nuance to Davis Canyon, yur.p-u'ed to other canyons titlun our Canyonlands, Dais Da-is is comparatively little How i. In f-ict wry few of ur towiv'iwi'lo seviiied tlio ,ist interested in it until it e.inie a par: of tho park. Pr, perhaps most of thoin Here like me; interested, but ifcere are simply too many yal'.y fascinating places ti jisit to be bothered with Dans Da-ns Canyon. I had flown over the area i ind observed it from a district? dist-rict? t'Jie Indian Creek Can-r Can-r road) for several years jut had never taken tlie time J pay it a visit. Then, on ' ITunkgivmg Day weekend, jiy family and 1 jeeped into It for a look-see. We were so f .oscinated we lingered for a xuple of days and have re-fisited re-fisited it several times since. !Occassiona!ly we run into mat rare person who wiil say, "Oh. what the John - jvh'en you've seen one canyon you've seen them all". To us, 1 ?ach canyon is different. , Each has something all its , )vn to offer - something that Bakes it sort of special. By bow, in case you haven't visited vis-ited it, you are no-doubt won-kring won-kring what is special about " Davis Canyon. It contains , no real outstanding forma-ions, forma-ions, figures or features; large or unusual arches, out- standing vistas, a river con- Euence, etc. ! Davis Canyon Is Special I Davis Canyon is special be-. be-. :ause among other things, it small and easy to see. It 1 ts only about four miles from ( its mouth to the end of the jeep trail. It has one princip-' princip-' al tributary or fork and one i can hike to the heads of both canyons and return in a day. ' Ii is relatively deep (800 feet ' at its deepest point), narrow , and highly colorful. It contains con-tains a good many small ar-i ar-i tnes and several minor tributary trib-utary canyons with numerous , tide poskets, alcoves and narrow nar-row passageways to intrigue 1 the hiker and explorer. And, if these aren't enough to make it sort of special, it also al-so offers many lovely camping asd picnic spots; and it, has water. In prehistoric art, it ntains both pictographs and petroglyphs. It also contains the best display of prehistoric prehis-toric ruins that can be examined exam-ined close at hand, ef any pl.KY I konw of within our vicinity, including Ruin Park. Tluw ancient ruins include tlie contoniorary cliff dwellings dwel-lings as well as a few, above-ground above-ground structures, located on some of the ridge tops. F.traordinary Display In the second minor tributary trib-utary to tho west, after entering en-tering the canyon proper, is an extraordinary display panel pan-el of ancient art - The Five Portraits. These paintings luay be viewed, through binoculars, bi-noculars, from the maiu canyon can-yon wash if one knows tlie exact spot to stop. They are located above a ledge some twenty five feet above ground level in a south facing alcove or cirque. It is not too much of a trick to scramble up onlo the ledge in order to examine thorn at close range, How-" How-" ever, as tlie ledge is a bit . narrow you will need either a wide angle or telephoto lens in order to photograph them. There is no in between. The artist smoothed off sections sec-tions of the rock face before applying his paints. A sixth area has been smoothed off but no paint applied. On the ledge directly beneath the ."portraits" are numerous metatcs, depressions once used for grinding grain into meal. High on a ledge, in the first . tributary off the West Fork, is a log ruin that is of considerable con-siderable interest to tlie ar-cheologist. ar-cheologist. Scattered along tli is ledge as well as at ground level beneath it and on up tlie canyon are many masonary structures that can easily be observed at close range. Perhaps the best preserved ruin in this canyon system is a twe?story structure located under the east end of an arch ar-ch in the first tributary to the west. This is a very picturesque setting as the arch is one of the largest in the Davis Canyon system. Few People Visit Another feature of the Davis Da-vis Canyon area is the fact that only a handfull of people have paid it a visit. As of now all artifacts' are still undisturbed. un-disturbed. Signs of vandalism are nonexistant. And, there is always the possibility that one may be able to "discover" "discov-er" something new. Aside from the deepness and color of tlie canyons near their sources, ninety percent of the main points of interest are located within this mile wide tract recently added to the park. Not counting the cowboys, who have punched cattle in and out of Davis Canyon over the years, I would wager that more people peo-ple have visited it during the .. , , fcATTB , . , .. .... ... . :.:v'V - ' ' 'v .,V,-' r - y I i V I f. A two-story ruin in a picturesque setting. set-ting. Located in a second story alcove under the end of one of the largest arch- past year than during all the rest of time put together. And there is reason to bd-lieve bd-lieve that this number will double again during the next year. This added visitation, of course, poses the obvious question; "Will its inclusion in the National Park system help preserve these artifacts or will it lead to their destruc tion"? This is where we come in. The park service needs our help. The area now belongs be-longs as much to the armchair arm-chair lady in New Jersey as it does to us Moabites. And, she has the same right to see and examine these artifacts. "We" should then set the example ex-ample by treating each and every artifact, ruin, painting chip-stone, etc., as a "Leav-erite" "Leav-erite" phenomenon. Can "we" folow the example set by the cowboys who have used the area for many years and left no sign of distruc-tion? distruc-tion? Will we do our part in i cs in the area it is one of tlie best preserved. pre-served. ' . ,S y ,xt helping to educate others to "leaverite the way we found'er"? f . . . .. - . . . , r . . I ' " v- . K r . - i v ' - . ' : S i , . , , ? 1:--, ' - - . 1 k: :'-- 1 : Jlj The Five Portraits - prehistoric paintings, located in a south facing fac-ing alrovc or cirque in the Davis Canyon area. The artist smoothed the rock face before applying his paints. On some large rocks be- ncath these "portraits" are numerous nictates, depressions once used in grinding grain into meal. ' |
