nazSTUFF - Intuitive Hiker, Glyphs on San Francisco Peaks

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Petroglyphs on the San Francisco Peaks !?!

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Yes, there is rock art on the San Francisco Peaks

With thousands of archaeological sites, both public and obscure, in the immediate vicinity of the San Francisco Peaks, it raises the question, "Did ancient people also leave traces of their beliefs and occupation on the sacred mountain itself?"

The answer is YES.

High on the southwestern slope of the SF Peaks, near Snowbowl Road today, there is a spring adorned with the petroglyphs and pictographs you see in the photos above. Archaeologists estimate the figures are more than 1,000 years old, so their meaning remains mysterious.

This place is open to the public and is a popular day hike and watchable wildlife area during the summer months. It abounds with old forest wildflowers and is set aside as a preserve because it also contains a historical pioneer family homestead.

This one of the places that Thomas goes to with visitors when they lack a high clearance vehicle.

We've borrowed these photos taken around the homestead until we update our own this summer.

Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area

Ludwig Veit, for whom the springs are named, homesteaded 160 acres here in 1892. One of the springs, called Veit Springs, Veit used and even built a stone entrance to protect the water. The other, the Canadian Spring, is a bit higher on the cliff and is the site of some remarkable pictographs and petroglyphs shown above. Two small rock buildings house the springs that once attracted Veit. In spite of all the moisture that falls on the peaks, there are surprisingly few springs. The porous ground allows moisture to sink into underground aquafers.

Recently renamed the Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area in honor of conservationist and outdoorsman, Lamar Haines. Haines was a Flagstaff educator who helped establish an environmental education curriculum. The trail is an easy 1.8-mile loop hike through towering pines and thick groves of aspen. Veit Springs Trail follows an old jeep road uphill into this small preserve covering 160 acres at 8,600 feet elevation. Elk and mule deer are plentiful in the early morning, and squirrels and birds can be found midday. The route also may be used for mountain bikes and cross-country skiing.

Visitors have a good probability of seeing elk and mule deer, Abert’s squirrel, golden-mantled ground squirrel, greater short-horned lizard and plateau lizard. It is also an excellent place to observe mixed-conifer songbirds. Year-round resident birds can include Lewis’s, downy, hairy, and American three-toed woodpeckers; also Steller’s jay, mountain chickadee, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, and brown creeper. Additional spring and summer breeding birds include Cordilleran flycatcher, western tanager, dark-eyed junco, and occasionally evening grosbeak and red crossbill. Go early in the day and move quietly for a good chance to see wildlife.

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