Painted Rock Petroglyph Site: Messages Left a Thousand Years Ago
From Dad's place in Florence we pointed the rig west and slightly north of Gila Bend, to the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site - a BLM campground that has become one of our favorite Arizona stops.
The Campground
The site sits off Interstate 8, and there is a fairly large campground with the sites well spread out, so you won't feel like your next-door neighbor is in your hip pocket. Every site has a picnic table and a fire ring. There are no services beyond pit toilets and trash receptacles - it is a desert campground, all gravel, and there was no camp host when we were there in January. Payment for your site is made online at recreation.gov.
We got a time-lapse video of both our trip in and our departure, and the vistas were amazing - the desert was actually quite green this year. It was not a bad drive from Florence, as I-8 was not terribly busy. The paved road leading into the site is a bit rough with potholes, which seems to be the norm for most pavement in Arizona. The last quarter mile into the campground, and both loops, are graveled dirt. Be sure to show up with your water tanks full if you will be staying for any length of time.
Cloudy Skies and Desert Walks
We had a few days of cloudy weather plus a small amount of rain while we were there, and the cloudy skies lent themselves to some very beautiful sunsets. I love the colorful skies at sunrise and sunset, and I have a great time getting pictures of them. Maybe I am slightly overboard when it comes to these photos, but they make for awe-inspiring memories.
Taking Chloe, our 16-year-old GSP, for walks in the surrounding desert, I had a great time photographing the fauna and the desert hills - from saguaro skeletons to live saguaro to creosote bushes, there was no lack of subjects. I found a saguaro in its early years, still in barrel form without much height. Some unique dead and down trees made for neat pictures, and the rippled sand in the desert washes made a few more.
The Petroglyphs
With shots of our campsite in the foreground and the surrounding hills behind, we will have great memories for years. We only had a few days at this spot, but we truly enjoy it. There is a mound of rocks on the north side of the campground with a walkway around it for viewing the petroglyphs - images pecked into the basalt by the Hohokam people, whose descendants include the O'odham communities of southern Arizona, and whose marks here go back many hundreds of years. The BLM has story boards at the start of the walkway explaining the area's history. Take pictures for remembering, and save the site from damage for future visitors to enjoy.
Know Before You Go
Where: About 90 miles southwest of Phoenix, off I-8 near Gila Bend, AZ. Camping: Gravel sites with picnic tables and fire rings; no hookups; vault toilets; pay online at recreation.gov. Water: None on site - arrive full. Do: Walk the petroglyph loop, bring the long lens, and plan around sunset.