GILA BEND. MORE BATTALION AND PETROGLYPHS

Saturday afternoon we made our way to Gila Bend a very small town in the middle of nowhere. Lots of cotton fields and dairy farms. You take the to the Painted Rocks State Park on the Mormon Battalion Trail.  Right next to the trail there is a huge pile of very large boulders that are covered by hundreds of ancient petroglyphs.  We thought maybe it was where the teenagers practiced their writings or just did graffiti.  More than likely it was where the stories of the tribe were written and preserved.  Well worth seeing.

Did  you know that Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (the son of Sacajawea) was a scout for the Mormon Battalion?






WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE?

ANOTHER STOP ON THE MORMON BATTALION TRAIL

MARK BACK ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

THE SUN IS SO INTENSE HERE THAT THE ROCKS ACTUALLY GET SUNBURNED. IT IS CALLED DESERT VARNISH. THUS THE INDIANS COULD SCRAPE AWAY THE VARNISH TO DO THEIR WRITINGS.

 THERE IS AlSO SOME GRAFFITI DATING BACK INTO THE 1840'S ON HERE.

PICACHO PEAK WAS A LANDMARK MENTIONED BY THE MORMON BATTALION. THEY CALLED IT "THE HORN" . MARK HAS ACTUALLY CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF IT.