Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Arizona → Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

Location: Southwest of Phoenix, Southwest Arizona

Time Required: 30 minutes at the site itself to see the rocks, but it’s about a 45 minute drive to reach the site from I-8, so the whole detour takes about 2 hours.

Red Tape/Notes: Open 24 hours a day; fee is $2 per vehicle to visit the site (or $8 if you’re camping). You can find more details on the BLM website.

What’s Nearby?: Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, Castle Dome Mine Museum & Ghost Town

We stumbled across this site while driving from Phoenix to Yuma (it’s hard for me to resist a good rock art site) and we were quite frankly amazed at the number and clarity of petroglyphs here. Compared to the panels we find on our adventures in Utah, which are generally more subtle since they’re etched into red stone, these ones are impossible to miss, and the rocks are absolutely covered in them. There are also some inscriptions from historic passers-by (demonstrating the phenomenon that graffiti becomes historic and interesting after enough time has passed), several historic trails like the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail and Butterfield Overland Stage Route, and a developed campground if you’re looking for a place to spend the night.

Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Arizona → Painted Rock Petroglyph Site