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Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is a rock panel with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs in the United States. It’s located along UT 211, which is the road leading to the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. The rock is part of the cliffs along Indian Creek Canyon.
Petroglyphs
The rock features over 650 etchings made by the native Fremont, Ute, Ancestral Puebloan, Puebloan, and Navajo cultures. Some of these petroglyphs date back over 2,000 years. They represent a variety of figures, including animals, people, tools, and more abstract forms.
The rock is called Tse’ Hane in Navajo, which translates “rock that tells a story”. While we know that Native Americans used the rock to communicate with each other, nobody will ever know what story they were trying to tell! It’s fun to admire these etchings and try to decipher what the messages meant. There are also etchings made by pioneers as well as some unfortunately more recent graffiti.
Newspaper Rock sits within the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument. It’s open to the public 24 hours a day and there’s no entrance fee. There’s a large parking lot next to the rock.
