We’re working our way down a wash deep within the Mojave Desert, examining the volcanic outcropping on one side of the wash for petroglyphs, and finding a ton of them. There is a lot of different styles and revarnishing, so this wash wasn’t used just once. Therefore, we’re going slowly and not letting the sheer abundance of petroglyphs overwhelm us.
Let’s check out the next section!
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Onward with our exploration! This wash contains numerous petroglyphs and it is easy to feel overwhelmed and start marching down the wash without playing close attention, so we’re taking it slowly and contemplating each panel as we come across it. Remember, these petroglyphs took several hours to make. There was intent behind making them, so they had meaning.
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With the prelude [ Perambulation Prelude ] out of the way it is time to put in some serious groundwork and explore this wash in detail. The elements found along the boulders are in many cases beautiful, well-worked and bold. It is worth lingering and not getting overwhelmed by the sheer size of this site, so we’ll take it in little bites.
Let’s get started!
Continue readingWe started a journey before dawn one spring morning, driving far into the desert so we could go walk through history. As we rolled up the miles on tarmac, effortlessly covering distances that spans days of travel on foot, I thought about how humans always seek the path of least resistance. For modern people that means sedentary lives and easy driving on blacktop. In the past, it meant finding the places where the land was gentler and yielded more easily to those seeking a living from it.
Our destination for the day was one such place. It offered water, food, and an easy corridor of travel. Our own easy travel ran out a ways short of our target, so we found a spot to park off of the two-track we’ve been bumping along, gathered up our packs, cameras, water and snacks, donned our sun hats, and set out across the desert, walking the way people have always walked in this land.
Continue readingIt’s been a hot, dry, smoky summer.
Busy, too! Every spare moment I had was taken up with earning my keep, keeping an eye on wildfires, and looking forward to winter.
Now, winter is finally on the horizon and with it, exploration of the desert. I had all kinds of hopes for exploring the High Sierra this summer and reporting back on all I found, but that was not to be, not with the kind of summer this was.
Let’s all hope for a better rainy season in 2021! In the meantime I do have some exploring to report on, from a little while back, so keep an eye out for that, and I hope to get out into the desert times a-plenty this winter, and bring you back pictures of fabulous finds.
Happy trails everyone!
We’re out in the desert – wandering, poking around piles of granite, looking for signs of the past. We’ve certainly found some signs of the recent past, since there are some dirt tracks leading to the area. In particular, I found a fresh campsite. I know it is fresh because, well … last night’s dinner didn’t go well for somebody and they didn’t even bother concealing the evidence. Yucky!
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Today’s site is another lesson in the “Once you’ve looked at all the obvious petroglyphs or pictographs, start looking around for the hidden ones!” track. There’s a small but well-remembered list of sites where I’ve done the hard work of finding the site and taking pictures, only to learn later that “But wait! There’s more!” For at least one of those sites I know I missed a large panel of petroglyphs. Walked right by it, basically, and didn’t see it. I haven’t been back because it is one of those “many miles” sites, and the miles weren’t easy, either!
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We’re on the prowl in piles of granite we haven’t visited before, peering in under overhangs and outcroppings, scrambling up to interesting-looking shelters, and walking down washes with our eyes on the ground, looking for anything interesting on the ground. Since we know that sometimes a shelter is hidden around the back of a boulder and you won’t know if you don’t go look, every boulder we pass gets a good circling. Good thing it is a cool, breezy spring morning, so making slow progress through the desert is no problem at all!
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For today’s exploration we’re tackling a part of the Mojave Desert I haven’t yet spent a lot of time in. We had a very windy day of it while driving down to the area we wanted to explore, but the wind brought a sprinkling of rain with it before it died down overnight, so the morning dawned fresh and bright — and just at the perfect temperature for a day of exploring. Let’s get started!
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This is a medium-sized site in the Owens Valley — which is known more for its sprawling petroglyph sites — but nonetheless features some interesting pictograph sites that often mirror imagery found across the eastern Sierra.
The boulder itself would certainly feel right at home anywhere in the Sierra, being the typical granite boulder found in the region.
Let’s see what we found!
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