Adam Trahan: Tempe Butte

Tap on a picture to enlarge the image, keep tapping the image for a slide show. For those of you that can’t seem to find the petroglyphs on Tempe Butte, I’ve circled where most of them are. You’ll just have to look a little bit, find an image to expand to help you with what you are looking for. I’m sharing the work I’ve done with you, please be mindful and be respectful of the rock art found here. To date, I have yet to touch one single petroglyph. Please follow my lead and do the same, thank you.

There isn’t much online about the petroglyphs of Tempe (Hayden’s) Butte so I decided to change that and contribute my photographs. What I find amazing is that the rock art of Tempe Butte hides in plain sight. Nearly all people that I talk to on the trail or at the summit do not know that there is rock art here, evidence of the Hohokam. As we stand, just a couple of feet from an example, the people can’t see it. They hike past the rock art as they ascend the road and guard-railed Leonard Monti Trail to the summit. Head down or looking out at the expanse of the City of Tempe, they miss it. I think that is not such a bad thing. Perhaps hiding in plain site is key to survival. The community of petroglyph hunters that share their craft online skip this site. I’ve read that the quality of rock art is not what they are looking for.

They miss the point and that makes me happy too!

I see Tempe Butte as one of many premier historical sites for the “Valley of the Sun” which Phoenix, the Metropolitan area is known by. I am not an archeologist and I’m not pretending to be one but I recognize the significance Tempe Butte. There is actually a Pueblo on the East end plateau. I found it looking at Google Earth, take a look at the image below. I can not find any information on it but it does exist inside of a fenced area. I did find an article on the Loma del Rio Archaeological Site to the North, on the other side of the Salt River but nothing on the ruin found on Tempe Butte. There is a reason why it’s not reported on, I don’t know why and it doesn’t matter as it is well protected in the shadow of Arizona State University stadium, There is security there and they are aggressive, “Hey! You can’t take photos here, Department of Homeland Security!” Yes, I can take photos on public land, all the pictures here are mine and are legally photographed from the Leonard Monti Trail.

* The Hohokam were a prehistoric people that inhabited the Sonoran desert of central Arizona from about AD 300 to AD 1400. Occupying the region around modern-day Phoenix along the Salt and Gila Rivers, the Hohokam were one of several relatively advanced cultures in the American Southwest during that period.

I’ll stay the path… There are petroglyphs in each image on this page. Some are as small as your hand, others are quite large. In half of the images, I did not notice the petroglyphs but I knew I might find them by zooming in with my iPad. That’s exactly what happened. I used telephoto lenses to get closer. There are hundreds of petroglyphs at this site. I am about sixty percent through the process of documenting. Tempe Butte. This site is quickly becoming my favorite home petroglyph site as there is so little online about this area. This forces me to dive deeper into general information on the area and ultimately this lead me to joining an archeological society and to take classes on the subject.

I’m interested in the archeological history of the area I grew up in. I am sensitive to the area, to the findings and I understand how special the petroglyphs are here.

Although my focus at this page is on the petroglyphs, I believe there is far more to the story than my photography and the brief descriptions and the Internet resources which I link here. On each occasion of my days of photography, I often find myself looking out from my elevated view over the valley to the North or Tempe to the South, the cities of Phoenix and Tempe fading from view to be replaced by the desert. As my study of the Hohokam continues, the desert view starts to fill in with the canals of the Hohokam. The crops, the Pueblos appear. I see a valley of people thriving in this desert so long ago. Making their way by bringing precious water to their crops by hand digging canals. I take a deep breath, I’ve been hiking to get here and my mind clears, I need to get my pictures, and I’m back to scanning for the rock art found in the desert varnish.

The above pictures are from my Nikon D780 with the AF Nikon 300mm f4 ED. I chose this lens due to the restrictions of staying on trails. I am able to search through the lens saving the hassle of bringing binoculars. The first group was from a bright sunny day. The second above group was on an overcast day. Although the flat light reduces shadow, it lengthens shutter time for 300mm f4 at 1/125 sec. I hand hold the camera and am tired rendering images not as sharp as 1,000th sec in sunny conditions, hand held where the images are super sharp.

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This group of images are 35mm film, Portra 160 shot at 100 asa developed as normal. I used my Nikon F6 with a AF Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 ED shot hand held. This was from the same day as the first group (I carried two cameras.)

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These images are from my Nikon D780 and the AF Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 ED. A couple of pics below are from my telephone camera, an iPhone 16 pro. I’m not a fan of a telephone camera but they are amazing and get the job done.

These images are from my Nikon D780 and the AF-S Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 G ED FX. Photo number two and three are from my telephone camera. The Nikon DSLR and Nikkor 14-24mm is a fantastic combination and my next trip will include more images from this camera and lens combo.

Soon, I will rent a very expensive telephoto lens to get much closer to some of the petroglyphs that I can’t reach with my feet.

Photographing the rock art here is a great lesson. I imagine a photograph, choose a camera and lens combination and then attempt to create it. Typically this takes me a couple of attempts. There are a couple of shots here that I nailed on the first try while others are taking several try’s. I make my web site for me, it’s non-commercial. I share it with you because there is value in contributing to the larger story of the indigenous people, the Hohokam and the Salt River and Pima-Maricopa tribe. It is quite an honor to be able to get so close and even from afar, to be able to view this many centuries old rock art.

I hope you enjoy my efforts, if you do, please leave a comment, thank you.