Tales From The Wood Booger: A Short Detour Back In Time To Track Rock Gap

Sunday, May 17, 2015

A Short Detour Back In Time To Track Rock Gap

Like I said in my previous blogs about my hike on the Arkaquah Trail from Brasstown Bald if you follow the path to its end you will come out at Track Rock Gap. While we didn't start from there I wanted to visit the Arkaquah stating point. The reason, because of the ancient petroglyphs at Track Rock Gap.

Where I started the day on the Arkaquah

It is one of the best known petroglyph sites in Georgia and they give gap its name (the carvings look like tracks). I had always wanted to see them and since it wasn’t too far from Brasstown Bald, about 15 minutes out of my way, so I decided to do it. First, I was surprised because the highways to the gap are all paved, I expected some of the road to be gravel, but it wasn’t. However, the parking is as described in a number of books and websites, small between five to seven cars, but there were only two others there on this day so finding a spot wasn’t a problem.

The sign...

...& trail to the petroglyphs.

It is a short hike, about 0.1 miles out to view the spot where the six stones sit with these ancient petroglyphs. Because of vandalism the stones were once covered by metal frames, but in 2010 renovations were done on the site, including new information plaques and the metal covers were removed. The new information plaques include a key to what some of the symbols that are carved into the rocks. There are six separate stones with etchings (some descriptions says there were eight boulders at one time); the two best are boulder number four and six. These carvings are pretty cool; it is just amazing to see something created so long ago, by humans like myself.

Site pre-2010...

...now.

The new histortical marker...

...new left plaque...

...right one.

Boulder #1

Boulder #2

Boulder #3

Boulder #4

Boulder #5

Boulder #6

It is funny how I came too learned of this historical site. I might have heard of Track Rock before, but the first time it stuck with me was when I heard of the site on the first episode of America Unearthed on the History Channel. I still remember Scott Walter being denied access to the archaeological site across the road from where the petroglyphs set. Walter and others have put forward that the petroglyphs and the site across the road which includes stone walls, terraces and even a serpent effigy, might be a Mayan site (here is an article about this theory). Others, including the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and the Muscogee Creek Nation dispute these claims and say they were created by ancestors of the two tribes. The three groups work together to preserve and protect the site. While not closed to the public the USFS does not encourage visitation to the stone landscape (see the USFS FAQ), some even say that the government allegedly vandalized the site to keep people out back in 2012.

The show that exposed me to Track Rock.

Richard Thronton's map of the "Mayan site."

People accused the USFS of doing (photo Richard Thronton).

Some estimates say that the site could date back as far as 8,000 BCE and that it could have connections with the stone structures at Fort Mountain State Park, which I visited back in February of 2014. Besides the Mayans the Moon-Eyed People people could be one of many different people who could have carved the petroglyphs or constructed the structures at the archaeological site. So, whther you believe it was Mayans or Moon-Eyed People that carved these wonderful petroglyphs it is something that all humans can cherish and protect.

Could a native like this be responsible.

Some of the stone walls at Track Rock (photo Alan Cressler).

Stone walls at Fort Mountain.

These stones were more than enough to justify the detour, but I got a wildflower bonus. There was Blue-Eyed Grass and the apt named Indian Physic. Oh, and a big bush of my personal favorite Mountain Laurel. So, if you are near Blairsville or Brasstown Bald a short detour back in time is worth your time.