On Friday, I met with Chris and Jim as we had discussed going back to Black Butte Road to find petroglyphs we had missed on Thursday, plus we wanted to see the Twenty-one Goats petroglyph site on the same road. However, as we were leaving camp, we met with Randy at the next campsite, with a large convoy heading out. Randy told us he was leading an expedition to "Keyhole Slot". This intrigued us, so we changed plans and joined the convoy, now four pick-up trucks and several ATVs driven by Randy's grand-children.
We went via Mud Wash, a sandy, rocky 4WD trail that is used to access Little
Finland, as well as other Gold Butte features I
haven't seen. There are some nice red rock formations in Mud Wash, along with some petroglyphs, so we made a stop to check out this area.
Instead of going toward Little Finland, Randy led us onto a spur trail to the left and up onto a mesa. Where we parked on the mesa, we saw a path leading down into a deep canyon. Randy explained that the road once went down into the canyon, but is now closed except for hiking. I could foresee the challenge of hiking back up the steep trail, but down we went and hiked along the cliff of the large butte.
There were many petroglyphs all along the face of the cliff, but many were faded or victims of vandalism. Soon we reached the entrance of the slot canyon, which I have since learned is actually named Kirk's Grotto, and began hiking through.
Petroglyphs inside the slot canyon had been better protected from the elements, so were quite nice.
My friends Jim and Chris examining rock art at the end of the canyon.
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