Utah’s Rock Art is World Famous and This is Why

Here's a little secret we Utahns have… and we’re finally letting the rest of you in on it.

If you’re from Utah, you probably grew up knowing our red rock country isn’t just gorgeous, it’s historic. We have cliffs, canyons, and desert walls down south are covered in ancient carvings and paintings from ancient people who lived here thousands of years ago. It’s one of those things locals almost take for granted… until someone from out of state comes along and can’t believe you can pull off the highway and see petroglyphs that I just recently realized are older than the pyramids. Awesome, right?

The reason we have so much rock art here comes down to a few things we’ve always been proud of: our incredible landscapes, our history, and how much of this state is still wild and protected. (We work hard on trying to keep it freed up to see and use.) Those soft sandstone cliffs apparently made the perfect canvas for the Fremont, Ancestral Puebloans, Ute, Paiute, and Navajo people to leave their stories behind and I love it! And thanks to Utah being packed with national parks, state parks, and public lands, those stories are still here for all of us to see.

So, whether you’re a proud Utahn who just needs a little reminder of how amazing our backyard really is, or you’re hearing about this for the first time, Southern Utah is hands down one of the best places in the entire West to experience ancient rock art. And we truly love showing it off. So come check it out! Find out how to check it all out here READ MORE: