Bears Ears National Monument was the original inspiration for planning this ambitious trip in the first place. Before being ushered into this phase of our government, we learned about how truly vulnerable our National Parks and Monuments were going to be within the incoming climate.

I got into my head that I needed to see as many of those areas as possible before more irreparable damage was done to them. Bears Ears National Monument was expanded by President Obama and decreased in size by ~80% during the next President, then was re-expanded by President Biden.

I felt that it would be in the crosshairs again and so I became determined to see as much of this remote area in 1.5 days as we could.

Bluff, UT is one of the main gateway towns for this area and the visitor center for Bears Ears is on Main Street. We were lucky enough to arrive within 15 minutes of their closing and the rangers were nice enough to chat about the map they provided and answer our questions about how to make the most of our time.

Of course we’d come armed with a general itinerary, but you never know what secret gems they’ll have to share with you and it’s always worth asking.

Sand Island was one of those places that we would’ve never stopped at otherwise, and it was such a great (and brief) appetizer for the petroglyphs and pictographs we’d see over the next ~48 hours in this area.

The people with lightning arms are my favorite.

The petroglyphs are all protected behind a chainlink fence. You can climb right up to them on a sandy, shrubby hill.

The harder you look at the wall, the more you see. Like this dude who’s soul is transcending out of his body – or is wearing a funky hat.

These markings are thought to be between 800 to 3000 years old and made by a combination of Anasazi, Basketmaker, Pueblo, Ute, and Navajo people. The San Juan River runs through here and it was a common pit stop. It’s thought that this rock was basically a big ol’ message board for people to read as they traveled through.

Next time we’re in this area, I’d love to stay at the campground right here. It’s such a nice, chill spot nestled off the side of the main highway-ish road.

Ya know, sometimes after seeing these creative and intricate petroglyphs, it’s not hard to imagine that these people met aliens.

Once your eyes are trained to see them, after a while you start noticing them eeeeverywhere.

Learn more about the Sand Island Petroglyphs:
https://bluffutah.org/sand-island-petroglyphs/
https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-go/cities-and-towns/bluff/sand-island-petroglyphs
https://bearsearspartnership.org/visit/explore/sand-island-petroglyph-panel

Bears Ears National Monument via the Bureau of Land Management:
https://www.blm.gov/visit/bears-ears-national-monument

Bears Ears National Monument via the U.S. Forest Service:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/national-monuments/bears-ears-national-monument

Bears Ears National Monument via the Canyonlands Natural History Association:
https://cnha.org/visit/bears-ears-area/