Anasazi Valley Petroglyphs

This 2.9-mile out-and-back short family friendly hike overlooking the Santa Clara River will take you to hundreds of petroglyphs scattered across a cliff edge. The site - which can be accessed via the Anasazi Valley Trailhead - is called Temi' Po' Op´and, pronounced “tumpee poo oop,” means “rock writing.” Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 1 h 10 min to complete. Along the trail one can also find remains of an Anasazi Farmstead foundation that are fenced in by pioneer style wooden fencing. There isn’t much left of this site, but archaeologists have been able to determine that this was a place used to store food and herbs.

This site has one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the area. The petroglyphs are believed to contain art from multiple waves of natives over thousands of years, including the Paiutes, but mostly I understand by Anasazi based on their style. The river below the cliff was heavily farmed by the Anasazi, hence the site’s name.

There are two ways to get to the petroglyphs - the long way and the short way. The main “long” trail is well developed with lots of switchbacks that slowly winds its way to the top. The short trailhead that leads to the right is fairly well developed from those using it as a shortcut. The first time I visited the area with my kids, we found the switchbacks to be excessive and desired to take one of the many paths that others had used to cut corners. To maintain the integrity of the land, we stayed on trail. We did opt to return by the short trail that saved us some time and allowed for less hiking that was beneficial for my daughter.

We spent a good amount of time carefully scrambling over large rocks exploring the cliffs in search of spectacular petroglyphs. Some by themselves and others together on large rock panels.