Ep. 20- INTO THE MAZE for this Special 20th Episode!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:27][music] [music] >> Hey guys, Matt from No Lonely Roads here.

[00:00:56]We are deep in canyon country today.

[00:01:06]And we're going to be going down in there looking for some rock imagery.

[00:01:15]It's going to be an interesting day.

[00:01:17]Uh never been to this area before. It is quite impressive, really epic landscape.

[00:01:26]And uh let's see what we can find down there.

[00:01:31]Hi everyone. My name is Matt Ralkin, but I'm better known as No Lonely Roads on Instagram.

[00:01:38]I've spent the last two decades seeking out and documenting indigenous cultural sites, mostly focusing on rock imagery.

[00:01:47]My main goal for sharing these videos is to help educate and spread awareness [music] of proper etiquette when visiting these sacred places, but I also just want to share the wonder and beauty of these irreplaceable national treasures.

[00:02:01]I'm no expert, nor am I a spokesman for indigenous cultures.

[00:02:07]I'm just a dude who's become obsessed with rock imagery and I'd like to share my adventures finding these sites with all of you.

[00:02:14]So, please join me on this journey into a world [music] of history, mystery, and wonder. This is No Lonely Roads.

[00:02:38]All right. Oh, here's the first crux.

[00:02:40]Can you get down this, Casey?

[00:03:06]It's pretty nice. Trail's not too sketchy yet.

[00:03:10]There was a couple little drops at the start, but of course, we all know what cairns are, right?

[00:03:25]Those serve a purpose.

[00:03:30]When they're along a trail like this, see that?

[00:03:34]It's really hard to tell which way to go, so that's what we're looking for.

[00:03:39]It's cairns.

[00:03:41]That's why when people stack rocks, they can redirect or misdirect hikers. People can get lost. It can cost people their lives. It's that serious sometimes.

[00:03:57]Is that a cairn over there? Yeah.

[00:04:24]All right.

[00:04:26]Got some more descent. For a while we were walking on a shelf.

[00:04:31]Kind of walking along this, but I think we're going to make our way closer to the slick rock, the white rock down there.

[00:05:06]All right.

[00:05:08]We're on the next level.

[00:05:14]It's like the path is right here.

[00:05:17]There's some cairns.

[00:05:31]So far it hasn't been too difficult.

[00:05:36]It hasn't been really difficult. I mean, going back up it's going to be strenuous, but haven't really been any obstacles that are sketchy, at least not yet.

[00:05:53]You good?

[00:05:54]Yep.

[00:06:10]No.

[00:06:13]I mean, oh, these these mokey steps will be easy to go up. So, there are steps right below you. Oh, okay.

[00:06:20]Um do you want to pass down Everything?

[00:06:23]some stuff? Just one, two. So, there's a step here, here, and here. But, they're they're like good steps.

[00:06:31]>> I saw pictures of it. Probably what mokey steps used to look like. Yeah.

[00:06:35]Yeah.

[00:06:37]Before they made those new cheap mokey steps. What white people mokey steps?

[00:06:43]Pretty awesome.

[00:06:45]Pretty fun.

[00:06:48]Getting closer to the bottom.

[00:07:05]I got to get off this ledge. I got to watch out for low-flying aircraft.

[00:07:09]Watch yourself. Well, I got to get down the next one. All right. Well, go ahead.

[00:07:19]And then hold on, we got to help Casey.

[00:07:22]Ooh.

[00:07:23]She's not going to like that.

[00:07:24]God.

[00:07:26]>> [laughter] >> What do we got?

[00:07:27]>> I don't really like that.

[00:07:29]Um Is that where the cairns are?

[00:07:32]No, there's mokey steps right there.

[00:07:35]There's a big step.

[00:07:37]>> That's sizable.

[00:07:39]Well, you might want to take off your pack.

[00:07:45]She's not going to like this at all.

[00:07:47]All right. Well, well, we got to figure it out.

[00:07:51]So, there's three of us, um and we might be losing one party member because there is some sketchy stuff here. Um some obstacles that you know, are difficult and some people might not be comfortable with, which is completely understandable.

[00:08:09]There's no shame in turning back. I've done it plenty of times.

[00:08:13]None of this is worth risking your life for.

[00:08:17]But, I still feel pretty comfortable getting down there. There's plenty of people have done it. I feel like my my abilities, my climbing abilities aren't up here, but they're maybe here.

[00:08:29]They're not down here.

[00:08:30]Um I think we're going to keep going. It's just going to be a party of two.

[00:08:53]Wow.

[00:08:59]All right. So, we're going down these mokey steps here.

[00:09:04]You can see them in the rock. Unfortunately, I have all my stupid gear on. This always gets in the way, but I think we can probably do it pretty easily.

[00:09:29]All right, we're in the bottom.

[00:09:31]This is where I came down.

[00:09:36]Came down that, and we are now in the beautiful canyon. It is so beautiful. Beautiful one chocolate drop.

[00:09:48]And this area >> So cool.

[00:10:06]Looks like I see my arch-nemesis all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.

[00:10:18]We got a freaking foil balloon.

[00:10:21]These god damn things.

[00:10:28]They last forever.

[00:10:30]And they get everywhere.

[00:10:35]You can find these in the deepest deepest wilderness.

[00:10:40]There's no purpose for these stupid things.

[00:10:44]>> [sighs] >> So, we're going to crumple it up and take it with us.

[00:11:04]We're getting close to the target.

[00:11:09]And there it is.

[00:11:24]This panel is one of the preeminent examples of Barrier Canyon style rock imagery, thought to be around 1,000 to 5,000 years old or more.

[00:11:35]This one in particular is notoriously difficult to photograph when exposed to direct sunlight. So, I'm going to do my best adjusting contrast and using the DStretch app to try and bring out the details in this spectacular panel.

[00:11:53]Barrier Canyon style imagery is known primarily for its ghostly figures, often depicted with long tapered bodies and minimal appendages.

[00:12:04]Facial details are usually limited to large hollow eyes and sometimes the bodies have interior decorations.

[00:12:12]These imposing anthropomorphs can sometimes look like a mix between [music] human and animal, and they're often accompanied by smaller animals and figures that can appear to be helpers or guides.

[00:12:29]And these are all about life-size.

[00:12:40]By life-size, they're Well, I mean they're between like 4 and 7 [snorts] to This one could be almost 8 ft tall.

[00:12:52]But they're big.

[00:12:57]You have these figures with the little finger dashes on the sides highlighted with white.

[00:13:04]This figure's nice. Look at all this white highlights in this.

[00:13:08]White swirly going on there.

[00:13:11]Little legs.

[00:13:16]This one's got I mean, it looks like the straight lines are the arms and then it could be holding snakes.

[00:13:23]These dots coming down one side and they're outlined in white.

[00:13:29]More little legs, little antenna man.

[00:13:34]This is the tallest of the figures.

[00:13:37]This one right here. It's hard to make out details.

[00:13:41]This one's very nice.

[00:13:42]>> [music] >> It's like white and black stripes.

[00:13:45]Probably not black. I'm guessing more red ochre.

[00:13:48]They're just super dark and reflective.

[00:13:52]Got Cousin It here.

[00:13:55]Look at that.

[00:13:57]Another typical Barrier figure that still look kind of iconic.

[00:14:02]Broad-shouldered, [music] elongated figure. This one has legs.

[00:14:07]Let's take a closer look at the middle of this line of figures. They're very washed out until we filter them through DStretch. Then you can see more of the individual intricacies.

[00:14:22]This figure has a faint white headdress with horns or antennae coming off.

[00:14:29]It also looks like a small bird companion here.

[00:14:35]This next figure has more white adornments on the head and shoulders.

[00:14:40]And there's this white snake-like design running down the side of the body.

[00:14:49]Here we have more fine line head adornments and possibly earrings.

[00:14:57]As we follow the body down, we see what look like thin arms holding snake-like objects.

[00:15:04]This one also has a line of dots with white outlines running down the side of the body.

[00:15:11]All the way at the bottom, we have some small legs which look a little off-color.

[00:15:18]Next, we have the smallest of the bunch at about 4 ft tall.

[00:15:24]The tallest figure in the center is about 8 ft.

[00:15:29]Zooming in, we can see this also has some thin lines that look like arms with some wavy snake designs running down the sides of the body.

[00:15:39]Also notice this crescent shape being held right here.

[00:15:47]Down at the bottom, we have more off-color legs [music] and two more faint figures.

[00:15:56]Here we have the most striking figure of the group with red and white lateral stripes and possible horns or maybe long rabbit ears.

[00:16:08]These faint lines could be hair or earrings hanging down.

[00:16:15]This little protrusion looks like it has legs and it could be another tiny helper figure.

[00:16:21]These last two figures have some fine line work in them, both in red and white. As we scroll down, you can make out the faint white zigzag design in this one's body.

[00:16:37]Finally, when we zoom back out, we can see a noticeable gradation of color right about here.

[00:16:44]Darker above, lighter below.

[00:16:47]The lower section could occasionally get hit with water from flash floods, which might explain the color variance.

[00:16:58]Small figure there.

[00:17:00]That one's interesting with its head adornment [music] and then this kind of weird side figure here.

[00:17:06]I think the best of this group is this large figure here.

[00:17:13]This guy's hand reaching out and what looks like a plant growing [music] out of the finger.

[00:17:21]And then you got a little bird animal helper and looks like two rabbits.

[00:17:26]Notice he also has It's like rabbit ears.

[00:17:33]Once again, the DStretch app greatly enhances this washed out image.

[00:17:40]But let's get a closer look at this section here.

[00:17:44]Though Barrier Canyon is generally considered an archaic style, meaning the majority of its origins are thought to date before 1 CE, it certainly had some overlap with agricultural development.

[00:18:00]We can all agree this is likely a plant, and it looks similar to rice grass, a native plant utilized for food by ancient cultures.

[00:18:09]Perhaps this image was meant to encourage bountiful crops of rice grass or some other edible plant.

[00:18:17]We can also agree these zoomorphs are probably rabbits.

[00:18:21]We don't see too many rabbit depictions in rock imagery, >> [music] >> even though we know they were hunted for food and their fur was utilized.

[00:18:29]Perhaps they were just too common to be memorialized often.

[00:18:34]Think of it like painting an image of a chicken.

[00:18:38]Zooming back out, you might recognize these triangular figures from some of my earlier episodes.

[00:18:46]This design can be found at sites spread all across Utah, and they're often thought to be figures carrying packs or burden baskets.

[00:19:00]One other detail I noticed when making this video is in this section of the panel, all the figures have a spot removed from their bodies.

[00:19:09]This could be an example of ritual desecration, where a portion of the paint was ceremonially removed in order to transfer some of the perceived power of the image to the person removing the paint.

[00:19:29]But that plant I mean, that's pretty cool. This is obviously Well, not obviously, but I would assume this has to do with uh fertile crops and just hoping for a good harvest.

[00:19:47]You know, a lot of these uh rock imagery sites are thought to be um I guess it's called sympathetic magic.

[00:19:56]It's essentially depicting an outcome you desire. So, if you want a good hunt, you would paint or you would peck out people hunting bighorn sheep.

[00:20:09]If you want rain, maybe you would paint um some of your rain gods or deities.

[00:20:15]If you want a good harvest, maybe you have this guy bringing you plants. Could be like rice grass or I don't know.

[00:20:30]But then again, that's just a [music] theory. We don't know what any of it means.

[00:20:36]But what a panel.

[00:20:38]Sorry that it's not as bright. Maybe we can adjust the levels on the video. But there's some more stuff we should go look at along this wall.

[00:20:50]And the wall goes on quite a bit.

[00:20:52]So.

[00:20:58]More figures here.

[00:21:00]Looks like a bear.

[00:21:07]This panel was especially difficult to film, but de-stretch helps.

[00:21:14]This looks like another figure carrying a pack.

[00:21:20]And this is very likely a bear.

[00:21:33]This figure is cool.

[00:21:36]So.

[00:21:39]It's got the white paint around the eyes. It looks like it's holding some kind of plant over there, little animal helper, some kind of staff.

[00:21:49]That's very nice. Oh, even the feet are painted in white.

[00:21:54]Look at that.

[00:21:57]Though this figure is only about 6 in tall, it has some great details that were all likely painted with a fine brush.

[00:22:06]There's this thin staff or branch, this plant form, and then a tiny bird companion.

[00:22:17]When we adjust de-stretch, we can really see all the white highlights as well, including outlines around the eyes and shoulders, and then what looks like a feather over here.

[00:22:31]The feet have these white lines that look like claws. So, this whole figure gives off a kind of owl vibe.

[00:22:46]I feel like this tiny scene here is just as impressive as all the big panels.

[00:22:52]You got this central figure with that white decoration around the head.

[00:23:00]Look at this bird. Look at its wings.

[00:23:03]It's got white on there.

[00:23:05]Another white bird.

[00:23:09]That looks like a uh yucca or agave stalk where they have the bulbs on it.

[00:23:16]Yucca was an extremely useful plant to the ancient people of this land. Its fibers used to make footwear and baskets amongst [music] a plethora of other utilitarian items.

[00:23:30]So, when you think about the ancient ones' relationship to yucca, >> [music] >> it makes sense that they would memorialize a plant that was so important to their survival in this desert environment.

[00:23:43]Because of bad lighting, the de-stretch app doesn't improve this panel very much, but dropping the color saturation does.

[00:23:54]Check out these tiny birds, each measuring about half an inch tall.

[00:24:00]You can also see the nice white details in this larger bird's wings.

[00:24:05]>> [snorts] >> Panning down, we can see another bird >> [music] >> painted all in white.

[00:24:21]Looking at the center of this panel, we have lots more zoomorphs hovering around the primary figure.

[00:24:29]Above its head are more tiny [music] white animals.

[00:24:33]What I originally thought were more rabbits now appear to be some other animals with long tails, possibly mountain lions.

[00:24:42]And then we have another bird painted in white.

[00:24:48]To the right of the central figure, more tiny birds, >> [snorts] >> and another large bird with very fine line work in the wings.

[00:25:10]This last section of the panel has another plant form that looks similar to the plant in the main panel.

[00:25:18]This only further points to a theme of agriculture or plant magic.

[00:25:24]You'll notice there doesn't seem to be any imagery alluding to hunting at this site. [music] I'm not sure what's happening with this figure here, but the curving body is certainly an interesting gestural pose.

[00:25:43]As we hung out at this site, this shadow moved slowly across the panel from left to right, revealing details we didn't notice when we first got here.

[00:25:57]This odd design appeared.

[00:26:03]And further up, hand prints and finger marks.

[00:26:16]And you got Alex over there trying to get shots of the little mini scene.

[00:26:26]Okay.

[00:26:28]We got another panel over here.

[00:26:37]I like that wild kind of crosshatching design.

[00:26:42]Weird. I haven't seen that very often.

[00:26:45]This one looks like it was completely painted with fingers.

[00:26:53]Very cool designs.

[00:26:59]And it's high up.

[00:27:03]This may not be the same grass that's in the pictographs, but you know, sure looks similar.

[00:27:18]Look at that. Wow, I'm sure no one's ever thought of that before. Hey.

[00:27:22]Original.

[00:27:27]All right, that was great.

[00:27:32]Now we're going to hike back, and we get to do all those obstacles in reverse.

[00:27:38]So, should be interesting.

[00:28:07]There's the steps all the way up there.

[00:28:40]>> [sighs] >> Huh?

[00:28:47]>> [laughter] [panting] >> Pretty close to the end of the hike.

[00:29:48]We just got to go around that point and have some more of a dis- an ascent and and we're done for the day.

[00:30:02]I'm ready to be done for the day.

[00:30:05]Well, we're back where we started.

[00:30:11]Come to camp. Everyone's all set up for the evening.

[00:30:20]It's like maybe there's a little bit of a storm coming in, but I don't think it's going to [music] rain.

[00:30:26]And we were down there.

[00:30:29]It was an awesome day.

[00:30:32]Thanks so much for following along.

[00:30:36]And I'll see you next time. Like and subscribe.

[00:30:40]Appreciate you guys. Take care.

[00:30:44]>> [music] [music]