Courthouse Wash Rock Art Panel

Courthouse Wash Rock Art Panel is a large set of painted and carved images on west-facing cliffs above Courthouse Wash near the Colorado River. Park about half a mile north of the river on US 191, then follow the paved path across the wash. The panel is visible from the level paved section; a closer look means a short climb over uneven rock. The National Park Service describes an easy 0.8-mile round trip, about 30 to 60 minutes with 60 feet of elevation change. Only the first paved section is wheelchair accessible. The figures are faded and can be hard to make out, so binoculars help if you stay below.

The wall holds both pictographs, which were painted, and petroglyphs, made by pecking or abrading the stone. The long, tapered Barrier Canyon Style figures are thought to be about 1,500 to 4,000 years old. Pale shield-shaped forms were added later, but their age and makers remain uncertain. The west-facing wall is visible from the paved approach; from closer in, the figures are easier to distinguish against the rock.

The Colorado River could be crossed on foot here, making this a route for travel and trade. After the panel was vandalized in 1980, cleanup exposed older painted figures beneath the later shields, though the original bright pigments are gone. Infrared images made in 2008 revealed figures that are difficult to see in ordinary light and gave researchers a way to track changes to the wall.