Arrow Canyon Site Rock Art

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This page last updated on 02/11/2017

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Area Description: Located off of NV-168, northwest of Moapa and Glendale, about 60 miles from Las Vegas, Arrow Canyon and the Pahranagat Wash runs along the northeastern edge of the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. The canyon itself is characterized by vertical and overhanging walls that are more than 200 feet high. At its narrowest points, the bottom of the canyon is about 20-feet wide. These sheer cliffs that are so tall and close together in places that sunlight rarely reaches the bottom. There are extensive petroglyph panels on the rock walls of Pahranagat Wash, above, below, and in Arrow Canyon. Many of these petroglyphs are inscribed on carbonate rock walls that lack patina, which is unusual. In addition to being able to find evidence of fossils such as crinoids, brachiopods, corals, and other sea life, in the gray limestone, if you look hard, you may find other evidence of prehistoric use including agave roasting pits, shelter caves, rock alignments, lithic scatters, stone scrapers, and broken arrowheads.

Area History: To this day, Arrow Canyon is considered sacred by the Paiutes. The Moapa Band of Paiutes still resides in the area just east of the Arrow Canyon Range. The petroglyphs in the canyon were likely carved by both the modern Paiutes and their historical precursors, possibly as far back as the Desert Archaic peoples. The area is considered so sacred that Ghost Dance ceremonies were held nearby.

“According to local legend, at one time when the Moapa Valley Paiutes and the Pahranagat Valley Paiutes were at war, two of their war parties met suddenly in the canyon. Rather than engage in what would surly prove to be a mutually disastrous combat within the narrow rock confines, the two parties called a truce and fired all of the arrows high into the canyon walls.” (1)

Legend also has it that the Moapa and Pahranagat Paiute bands formed a peace treaty over the course of many years. To confirm their commitment to the treaty, it became a yearly event for members of both bands to come to this sacred canyon and shoot arrows into an inaccessible crack high on the canyon wall. In the 1930s, the CCC built a concrete dam at the head of the canyon, presumably for flood control. In 2002, congress designated the 27,530-acre Arrow Canyon Wilderness, with Arrow Canyon forming its eastern boundary.

The Petroglyphs: The predominate concentration of petroglyphs at Arrow Canyon are found on a large rock outcrop (Fig. 01) and (Top right in the collage found in Fig. 03), located just before entering the narrows about a mile from the trailhead, up a wash filled with water-polished cobbles and rocks (Fig. 02). Because there are several instances where these petroglyph etchings meet the ground (Bottom right in the collage below - Fig. 03), it leads one to think that the erosion filling the wash over hundreds of years may actually be covering several feet of petroglyphs. It is evident by the vast number of petroglyphs on this rock outcrop that this area has religious significance for the nearby Moapa Tribe. Unfortunately, it was sad to see that some people had seen fit to deface some of rock faces that contained these impressive representations of past ages. Though much fewer in number, there are some more on a few of the cliff walls low to the ground (Fig. 04) further up the canyon towards the dam.

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As you can see from the examples in the two collages above (Figs. 05 & 06) many of the motifs are angular, abstract, geometric, and enigmatic. Straight lines, arcs, and circles are combined to form apparently unrelated designs that some have likened to astronomical phenomena but that are more likely the product of psychedelic visions. Many of the individual glyphs are quite similar to other Great Basin glyphs I have observed up in the Pahranagat Valley, north of this area. The only representational glyphs in this style are hand, paw, and hoof prints, and some human stick figures, usually male. Because many of the abstract geometric designs appear disorganized and random, it is highly likely that they are products of visions induced during altered states of consciousness. Comparative studies have demonstrated that during trance, all people, regardless of their place of origin, experience the same visual abstractions. Also, images such as bear paws, snakes and bighorn sheep, as well as a couple of anthropomorphs that appear to have “horns” on their heads, are commonly associated with images drawn as part of a shaman’s vision quest. As is apparent by the different degree of coloring found on some of the panels (Fig. 07), it appears some images have have either been repaginated or added at a later time.

(Fig. 07)

(1) quoted from Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary By Helen S. Carlson

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Warshield Canyon Site (Summary Page)

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This page last updated on 02/16/2017

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Directions: Dead Man Wash Road, the entrance to this area, is about 66 miles from Las Vegas. Drive north on Interstate-15 to the NV-168 exit, EXIT 90, toward Glendale/Moapa. Exit the interstate and drive northwest on Highway 168. Drive out 15.8 miles to an unmarked dirt road on the left. This is Dead Man Wash Road. The road follows Dead Man Wash across creosote-covered flats, and then runs down a canyon between two mesas (Fig. 01). The mesa on the right of (Fig. 02) and left-center of (Fig. 03) is Table Mountain, a 300-acre, disjointed part of the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. At 1.5 miles out, just before entering the Upper Pahranagat Wash, the road passes an information sign with maps and information about the area (Fig. 01). Two side roads diverge here to the right; stay to the left and head downstream to the parking area seen in (Fig. 04).

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02/20/2015 Trip Notes: Pahranagat Wash (and Arrow Canyon) run along the north eastern edge of the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area, on the northern end of the Arrow Range. The elevations range from 2,500 to 5,200 feet, with the elevation at the lower end of the Pahranagat Wash being around 2,010 feet.  Several deep side washes feed into this main wash leading to the Arrow Canyon Dam (Fig. 05), and is characterized by some interesting and unusual petroglyphs, most of which are on rock walls that lack patina, which is unusual. The wash is filled with a wide variety of desert brush including; creosote bush, white bursage, bull thistles, catclaw and saltcedar thickets. Some of these shrubs are nearly eight feet tall. The most amazing thing to see was that the entire surface of this wash was covered with several inches of thick, caked, dried out silt and mud. Backed up by the Arrow Canyon Dam at the south end of the wash (Fig 05), last spring’s heavy rains in the Moapa area turned this wash into a lake with nearly 6-8 feet of water. As the silt and mud at the bottom of the wash began to dry out, it created some of the most beautiful, natural patterns I have ever witnessed (Fig 06). In our quest to find some petroglyphs, we began our hike of the area by heading towards a large sand dune located slightly northeast of the parking area. We were rewarded by finding several petroglyphs on the boulders and cliffs above and behind the sand dune. Due to the fact that many of the glyphs found here and on the other side of the wash appear to be representative of Indian  “war shields”, this area is often referred to as War Shield Canyon.

(Fig. 05)

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In our quest to find some petroglyphs, we began our hike of the area by heading towards a large sand dune located slightly northeast of the parking area (Fig. 04). When we reach the top of the dune, we were rewarded with several petroglyph panels (Figs. 07 thru 12) on the boulders and cliffs above and behind the sand dune. Due to the fact that many of the glyphs found here and on the other side of the wash appear to be representative of Indian  “war shields”, this area is loosely referred to as War Shield Canyon. Shields, decorated with anything that would add power to the wearer and frighten off those who would do harm, were used by many Native American Indians.

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Continuing down the wash past this spot we backtracked up a rather large side canyon where we thought we might find some more glyphs (Figs. 13-15). But after hiking up this canyon for what seemed like a considerable distance, we were unable to find any. Returning back to the wash we looked for an old shelter (Fig. 16) that someone had told us about. As it turned out we hiked along the top of it, and never saw it. It wasn’t until we were hiking down the old hillside road on the other side of the wash later on that we actually spotted it. Just past this area we encountered a fairly deep depression that appeared to be the result of a sink hole (Fig. 17). As you get to the southern end of the wash, the canyon narrows abruptly, and then shortly the old Arrow Canyon Dam appears (Fig. 05). As you can see, the face of the dam is quite steep, and there is no easy way to climb to the top or to climb around it. Placing my camera on the end of my monopod, I attempted to get a picture looking over the top of the dam into Arrow Canyon (Fig. 18), however the top is more than six feet wide and I couldn’t reach high enough to get a good picture. Standing near the base of the dam did provide a nice view looking back up Pahranagat Wash (Fig. 19). Notice in this picture the mud lined rim on both sides of the canyon walls indicating how high the water line was when the wash was full of water.

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After visiting the dam, we decided to hike up to the “viewpoint” (Fig. 02). Heading back up the west side of the wash, we found the old road that cuts steeply up the cliffs along side of the wash. From the start of the old road to the top of the hill, the climb involves a 230 elevation gain. With a visible road or not, hike up the sandy hillside to the old road and the flats above. The view in (Fig. 20) was taken at about the halfway point where the road and trail seem to disappear. Once we reached the top, the views in every direction were grand. The picture in (Fig. 21) is Harvey’s “summit cairn”.  The view southeast looked down into Arrow Canyon (Fig. 22). The view to the northwest look back out over the Pahranagat Wash with the north end of the Sheep Range in the background (Fig. 23). Though we had to get precariously close to the edge of the cliff, the view to the north gave us a glimpse 250 feet down to the top of the Arrow Canyon Dam (Fig. 24). These banded, jagged cliffs show nearly 200 million years of geologic history. The striking black layer, visible across the entire length of the western face, is early Mississippian Dawn Limestone that is about 350 millions years old. The dark color is from carbon in the rock. Fossils are common in the area, and it is possible to find crinoids, brachiopods, corals, and other marine organisms. Many of the fossils date to the Cambrian period, 500 million years ago, when these rocks were mucky sediments accumulating at the bottom of the ocean. I was amazed to find so many fossilized examples of ancient marine life at the very top of the viewpoint (Fig. 25).

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After hiking back down from Viewpoint we headed back up the west side of the wash to a canyon that is referred to as Warshield Canyon. There are three oddly shaped boulders on the left side of the canyon opening (Fig. 26) that are covered with some unusual, deeply carved glyphs (Figs. 27 thru 30). How these boulder pieces got there; whether they fell from the cliffs above or somehow washed down the canyon wash makes one wonder. The top edges of two of the are carved with a series of vertical lines that are underlined (Fig. 30). A few hundred yards into the canyon wash there is another rock panel (Fig. 31) that contained several more elaborately decorated “warshields”, as well as some anthropomorphic figures (Figs, 32 & 33). Unfortunately, a large portion of this panel is covered with mud, making several of them very difficult to discern. After viewing this area, we hiked back across the wash to the truck and had lunch before heading home (Fig. 34).

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Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area (Summary Page)

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This page last updated on 03/05/2019

(Fig. 01)

Here are a few simple guidelines you can follow that will help to preserve these unique and fragile cultural resources that are part of our heritage. Guidelines for Preserving Rock Art. If you would like to learn more about the Nevada Site Stewardship Program, go to my page ... Nevada Site Stewardship Program (NSSP).

03/26/2015 Trip Notes: I visited Arrow Canyon again, this time with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Senior Center. Unfortunately, because Arrow Canyon received heavy flash flooding during August of 2014, the lower access road to the canyon was washed away, making it impossible for our van to drive to the trailhead and parking area. This left us with an additional 1.5 mile to hike just to reach the trailhead for this hike. To reach the main petroglyph area it was a very slow, excruciating 2.5 mile hike over water polished stones and rocks (Fig. 03). Several in the group gave up and returned to the van before reaching the petroglyphs. Along the way, in addition to the normal desert scrub, we actually passed several flowering plants (Figs. 04-06) that provided a little color to our hike. Those that reached the main petroglyph area were impressed by the large number of panels and glyphs that were scattered about the large monolithic outcrop (Fig. 07) located just a few hundred feet short of the main canyon. To view more information and detailed pictures of the petroglyphs we observed on this visit, go to my page … Arrow Canyon Petroglyphs. Even though a few of us continued to hike up the canyon and did locate some additional petroglyphs, we ran out of time before reaching the dam and had to start our return back to the van. Scroll down to see pictures of the dam from my previous visit that is located at the end of the canyon.

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01/22/2013 Trip Notes: With a bright and early start, Harvey and I set out for Moapa and Arrow Canyon. With the early morning temperatures in the low forties, compounded by a slight breeze and the fact that the sun is unable to reach most of the canyon floor due to its narrow high cliffs, the beginning of the hike was a little cool. However, by the time we reached the end and started our return, the day’s clear sunny skies brought warmer temperatures, enough that we even had to remove our jackets. The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken shortly after we left the truck and headed west towards the canyon. The orange dotted lines in (Fig. 02) show our hiking route and the locations of various points of interest. The map in (Fig. 08) (Click to enlarge) shows the boundaries of the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. Arrow Canyon boarders the northeast corner of the wilderness area.

(Fig. 09)

The immense depth of this vast narrow canyon is awesome and overall we enjoyed this hike very much. And even though there really isn’t anything difficult about this hike, the first .75 miles of the lower canyon require walking on loose, water-polished cobbles and rocks that take their toll on the feet by the end. The ledges on either side of this end of the wash are covered with thousands of barrel cactus. There are more than seventy on the ledge in (Fig. 12) alone. At the end of this portion of the canyon, just before entering the narrows, we came upon a large outcrop (Fig. 09) with hundreds of petroglyphs as seen in (Figs. 13 & 14). Because there were several instances where they met the ground (Fig. 14), it leads one to think that the erosion filling the wash over hundreds of years may actually be covering several feet of petroglyphs. It was evident by the vast number of petroglyphs on this rock outcrop that this area has religious significance for the nearby Moapa Tribe. Unfortunately, it was sad to see that some people had see fit to deface some of rock faces that contained these impressive representations of past ages. Though relatively fewer in number, we were able to spot some more on some of the cliff walls as we hiked further up the canyon towards the dam.

(Fig. 10)

At a junction about three-quarters of the way to the dam, the canyon widens a bit and a narrow side canyon (Fig. 15) comes in from the southwest. This is actually the end of Side Canyon Wash that runs all the way from the Arrow Range, across a wide valley and series of bajadas, finally dumping into the Pahranagat Wash. We hiked this short .2 mile side canyon ending up on a small rise with an overview of the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. As you exit the canyon (Fig. 15), the view is facing due west and south along the entire length of the Arrow Range.

(Fig. 11)

Back at the junction, the canyon continues heading northwest with a trail through a grassy bottomed wash (Fig. 16) lined with mesquite and Catclaw Acacia "trees". We were actually quite relieved to find that this upper portion of the canyon had a more sandy, grass covered base (Fig. 17). Just before reaching the “cave” area we were surprised to run into another couple who were returning from the dam. As you can see in (Fig. 18) there is a another dam-like retaining wall directly in from of the main structure. Climbing this short wall we found a very dirty, stagnated pool of water (Fig. 11).

On our return journey, the placement of the afternoon sun provided us with what appeared to be some completely new scenes (Fig. 19). We also came upon four more people who were using bolting as a means to climb an area of the canyons steep cliffs. The plant in (Fig. 20) was on the side of the rock outcrop near the large concentration of petroglyphs. As I was climbing down from the ledge above it, I came upon a hole carved into a rock (Fig. 21). Three to four inches across and less than nine inches deep, it appeared to be an old mortar for grinding foodstuffs, that was perhaps used by the same culture that created the nearby petroglyphs. Archeologists call these bedrock or boulder mortars. Native Americans would gather plant materials from the desert environment and bring them to the mortars for processing – a mortar is used with some type of pestle, either made from wood or large cylindrical stones. In this area of the Southwest, mortars were probably used to process mesquite beans. Other than a couple of small lizards and a Great Road Runner that got away, the only other wildlife we saw was the butterfly in (Fig. 22).  Needless to say, by the time we returned to Harvey’s truck, the five and a half miles had taken its toll on us and were glad that we had a four wheel vehicle that allowed us to take off what would have been another three miles round trip. For more info click here ... http://www.birdandhike.com/Wilderness/ArrowCyn/_Arrow.htm.
  

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Play a Slide Show Clicking the picture-link below will open OneDrive in a new window and a folder containing 54 pictures taken of trip to Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. To view the show, click on the first picture in the folder and you will get the following menu bar: Clicking the "Play slide show" will play a fullscreen window of the slide show. ___________________________________________________ Note: Every attempt is made to provide accurate information, but occasionally depictions are inaccurate by error of mapping, navigation or cataloging. The information on this site is provided without any warranty, express or implied, and is for informational and historical purposes only.

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Reference Materials:

Rock Art Glossary

"Rock Art of the Nevada Great Basin"

Manuscript written by Kenneth C. Clarke