Little Black Mountain Trail, UT

BLM Division Details
The surfaced trail winds its way over the rust-colored soils of the Moenkopi Formation through the Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site. The trail provides access to petroglyph viewing areas containing hundreds of rock art designs.

Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site is accessed by a dirt road. The site has over 500 individual rockart designs or elements on the cliffs and boulders at the base of a 500 foot mesa. The different designs are associated with the cultures of the Great Basin, Western Anasazi and Lower Colorado River, a suggestion of the many cultures that have been this way. Some of the representations of turtles, lizards, and bear paws may be symbols with social or religious meanings now lost in time.

About the Site
Geology - The lower slopes at Little Black Mountain are part of the Moenkopi Formation and are highly erodible. The higher up rocky ledges are of the Shinarump Member of the Chinle Formation. Large blocks of this sandstone layer have broken off and tumbled down slope. People of several cultures carved petroglyphs on these fallen boulders.

Soils - Mother Nature is taking a slow toll through erosion, exfoliation, and the growth of lichens. Touching and climbing on the boulders, or walking on the cryptogamic soils ( A very delicate crust of fungus and lichens on the soil surface) will speed up the destruction of this site.

Plants - Creosote is the most prominent of the desert shrub species found here. Others include fourwing saltbush, burro brush, wolfberry, range ratany, Indigo bush, apache plume and mormon tea. April and May are the best months to see the desert plants in bloom.

Wildlife - Several varieties of birds, large and small, make the Little Black Mountain area their home. Rabbits, ground squirrels, three species of rattlesnakes, lizards and scorpions live here. Black widow and brown recluse spiders - both poisonous- are also present in the area.

Please encourage your children to stay on the trails. They follow your example. Remember- This site is yours to share and appreciate, but once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Leave arrowheads and other artifacts for others to enjoy.

Chalking or touching rock art (petroglyphs or pictographs) destroys them.

Climbing or sitting on the rocks can harm rock art and structures.