Along a heavily vandalized stretch of varnished rock one of the most interesting sites in the Mohave manages to hang on and escape damage. Among the many petroglyph elements at this site are panels that appear to illustrate a shaman transforming into his animal form.
This site is in Kawaiisu territory, like the Steam Wells site, where a similar theme of a shaman’s experience during a vision quest is depicted.
Close to downtown Joshua Tree, a few hundred yards from the nearest houses, you can find some petroglyphs rivaling any found inside Joshua Tree National Park itself. Though there are plenty of petroglyphs to see in JTNP, if you take the time to find them, the pictograph sites tend to be more impressive.
Coyote Hole is easily accessible and well-known to the locals. There is even a group working actively to protect the site, which is great to hear and also much needed: the wash these petroglyphs are found in is littered with graffiti. As if sporadic vandalism wasn’t enough of a threat the Army Corps of Engineers also stepped in in the 1960’s to help the destruction, blasting parts of the canyon to provide rock to line a nearby highway flood control underpass and destroying some of the petroglyphs in the process.