Sand Island Petroglyph Site

The Sand Island rafting and petroglyph site is about four miles west of Bluff, Utah along the San Juan River in southeast Utah is. Bluff is one of the few towns in this scenic but remote area that has some services for visitors. It is somewhat artsy and has a historic trail of preserved sandstone homes and buildings and also has the Fort Bluff Historic Site..

Sand Island is the launch point for raft trips on the San Juan River and has parking and campgrounds along with the launch ramp. The one day trip to Mexican Hat is popular.

The San Juan River is fed by snowmelt from the nearby mountains in Colorado and flows through the desert area westward to meet with the Colorado River in Lake Powell behind the Glen Canyon Dam.

The site has apparently been popular for centuries. A large panel of petroglyphs faces the river near the campground area. Mountain Sheep are popular in this panel as they are in many of the petroglyph panels in the region. Mountain Sheep aren't very common these days but they stand out in the rock art of the area.

The petroglyph panel has a clear fairly large image of the popular Kokopelli, a hump backed flute player. This image is used quite a bit commercially around the area There are Kokopelli bike shops, motels, and the image is a popular design on the jewelry that is hand made in the area.

This is probably the easiest place to find the flute players. Surrounding the obvious figure there are at least five more (three visible here). There are two flute players just below the large figure, and one above and to the right. In a wider view there is another to the left and the right. In another part of the overall panel there are at least two more for a total of eight.

Further west, past Mexican Hat are the Goosenecks of the San Juan, entrenched meanders that can be viewed from a small Utah State Park. The raft trip to Mexican Hat usually includes a stop at the Butler Wash petroglyph site near the confluence with Butler Wash. The River House Ruins site can also be accessed from the raft trips and can also be reached by hiking along the trail on the west side of Comb Ridge.