Nine Mile Canyon - Petroglyphs ~ Westbrook RV Travel Log

On Thursday (July 22), we got away from everyone -- far away. We drove into Nine Mile Canyon in northern Utah. I don’t know what distance-challenged person named it, but we got as far as mile marker 46, and the road still went on from there. Nine Mile Canyon has some of the best petroglyphs in the world, scattered along a 20-mile stretch of the canyon.The Native American petroglyphs (mostly Fremont Culture) were as much as a thousand years old. The Freemont people don’t exist as a distinct group anymore, but the bighorn sheep, deer, elk, owls, and other animals live on. The bison in this canyon have been replaced with cattle. I’ve pasted a few highlight photos below.

While driving through the canyon we saw a deer staring at us in a lush meadow. Later, we rounded a corner to find 7 bighorn sheep in the road. Two of them took off down the road a bit and the other 5 scrambled up the steep cliff face. We only saw a few other vehicles and people all day.

We camped the night at the historic Nine Mile Ranch. When we pulled in there was no one in the office and the campground host came over and said “They’re out mending fences.” (Cue the song "Desperado.") We had the camp to ourselves and it was stunningly quiet. I measured 34dB with the app on my phone. No TV, radio, cell, or electricity in the canyon.

We went to sleep around 9PM with the windows open and the temperature fell to 60F overnight. At 2AM we were startled awake by Bebop barking at something outside the van. I could hear some strange noises and see two animals playing or fighting. There were smallish, but I couldn’t identify them in the dark and they were just to the side of the crittercam. I think they were skunks, but I’ve never heard them make that sound before. They finally scurried off, Bebop calmed down, and we went back to sleep.

Bebop and I got up at 6AM, and I was sitting at the picnic table typing this. Suddenly she started growling and barking, and I turned to see a deer come up out of the creek bed about 30 feet away. It bolted back down the creek channel and I got Bebop to settle back down. We’re headed to the Wasatch Mountains today.