Category Archives: Joshua Tree National Park

“Monolith Alcove” Pictographs

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We visited this site with Guy Starbuck. Be sure to check out his writeup of it!

This site is really strange: out in the middle of nowhere, not close to any other sites or habitation sites. We looked all over in the area surrounding this site, excited, sure there would be more to see, but – no! We found a whole lot of nothing. Heh heh, sometimes that’s how it goes.

This site is probably Serrano, but it is hard to say. The tribal boundaries are not that clearly defined around JTNP. The complete lack of other artifacts like arrow points or pottery sherds makes it even harder to place. Some of the elements, like the crosses, also occur at some other isolated sites in the region, and sometimes at petroglyph sites too.

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“Circle Sun” Pictographs

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This is a site in Joshua Tree National Park that, as far as I know, have never been surveyed or documented. We were out in the backcountry with our friend Guy Starbuck, enjoying the back country of JTNP, when we noticed something we thought we’d better investigate. Check out his post about this site here.

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Queen Mountain Pictograph Boulder

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Now here’s a site that was hard to find! I’m not even sure how many trips we made before we found it.

This site is kind of in the middle of nowhere so you have to commit a good chunk of time just to hoof it to the general area, never mind start searching. After we had a couple of unsuccessful attempts at finding it I started analyzing my very vague research more thoroughly.  As I found more clues I steadily narrowed down its location until finally I was sure I had it this time!  So we set out again to find it. This was going to be the time. It was late afternoon and we were kind of done for the day already but I had the urge to be out in the desert despite my leaden legs, so off we went.

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“Double Scoop” Pictographs

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This site, in Serrano territory in Joshua Tree National Park, was an accidental discovery on our part. We just headed out semi-randomly, on a “Let’s see what’s out there!” quest, and after a while our wandering took us down a narrowing wash lined with uninspiring rock piles. We wondered whether we would end up with a dud of a trip!

As we picked our way past yet another obstacle, enthusiasm waning, a troop of rock climbers came up behind us. I didn’t feel like being surrounded by a gaggle of strangers in the middle of nowhere so I suggested we turn back and walk down a different, larger wash we passed a while back instead.

We waved to the climbers ( who seemed as surprised to find us out there as we were to see them. I guess you always assume – or hope – that you will have nature all to yourself when you step off the beaten path ) and retraced our steps.

That turned out to be a good call. Barely a hundred yards down this new wash we struck pay dirt in a big way!

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“Hidden In View” Pictographs

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Sometimes you wander through the desert and find a bounty of pictographs tucked into a small overhang or in a hollow in an otherwise very ordinary looking boulder.

Other times, your heart beats a little faster as you happen upon a magnificent overhanging cliff face and feel sure the jackpot is just ahead … only to find a sparse smattering of tiny elements, if anything!

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The Iron Door of Joshua Tree National Park

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There are plenty of theories about the Iron Door Cave.  Perhaps Bill Keys, the pioneering rancher whose name looms large in Joshua Tree National Park’s recent history, built it as a prison for his schizophrenic son.  Or maybe it was a cold storage room.  Or perhaps it was a hidden strong room to secure gold from nearby mines ( or maybe just the dynamite ).

The door was made to be barred from the outside and is very well hidden. Of course it is easy to hide something in the jumbled boulders of the Wonderland of Rocks, but this place is especially well hidden. You can walk right by and not spot it. I know I did just that the first time I was in this area specifically looking for it!

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“Hot Cross Buns” Pictographs – “Sky Cross” Edition

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I don’t usually write twice about sites when I revisit them, but this site is so unusual that I thought another entry would be worthwhile here, especially since we found a few additional pictographs on this visit.

This was one of the first sites I ever found, and one of the first sites I ever wrote about.

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“Sunny Side Up” Pictographs

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Now here’s a site that I’ve spent some time hunting for! Even though I first found it years ago, I’m only now getting around to writing about it, after we’ve been back to take some more pictures of it. It is in an area of Joshua Tree National Park I’ve visited often, but it isn’t really obvious. You kind of have to know that it is there.

My only clue to find it was that it was in a hollow rock, so I spent an insane amount of time eyeing the huge granite boulders, wondering whether they were solid or not, and walking around them looking for a way in. How often do you see someone march up to a boulder with a speculative glint in their eye before they start circling it and bending down looking for hidden entrances? Looks like they got a touch to much desert sun to the head when they start doing that, I’ll tell you!

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“Hidden Cave” Pictographs

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This was one of the most rewarding site hunts I’ve ever had. Over a couple of years I pieced together a variety of small clues, finally discovering one key piece of information that revealed the location. This is one of my favorite things about visiting these sites – the search itself! Just grabbing some coordinates and barreling straight for a site is not as satisfying as doing the legwork towards discovery for myself, and experiencing that moment when all the clues come together to reveal the location.

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“Peaceful Valley” Pictographs

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We visited this site with a fellow desert explorer, Guy Starbuck of starbuck.org.

This little site is hidden deep in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. It look a long slog through vale and gully just to get here, climbing up and around many obstacles, wriggling through manzanita and choosing to bypass this yucca here in favor of that cactus over there, simply because the gap between thorn and boulder seems a little wider over there than down here and besides, have you seen what a yucca leaf can do when you meet it at the wrong angle? Always choose the cactus over the yucca.

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