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!
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
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 readingWe’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!
Continue reading
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!
Continue reading
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!
Continue reading
I’ve read some very interesting research into this site’s purported usage as a solstice observatory site. I personally haven’t had much luck with solstice observatories so I haven’t yet investigated this aspect of the site for myself. That doesn’t mean that the possibility isn’t intriguing! It is — especially since if true, it means that this site is pretty old.
This is a small petroglyph site in the Mojave desert: a couple dozen glyphs on an eroded lava flow above a wash. Unfortunately, vandals have found the site too and scratched some spindly marks around or over some of the petroglyphs.
This is one of the most awe-inspiring sites I’ve visited to date, because of the feeling of great age and meaning that surrounds this site – more so than most other sites I have been to. The volcanic tuff making up the boulders in this vicinity is relatively soft ( for rock! ) but also quite rough to the touch. Yet, at this site, a lot of the surface area is worn smooth and patinated. That is the kind of look only rock touched by human hands over a great period of time will acquire.
Some researchers speculated about the astronomical ties this site might have to the winter solstice, and estimated that the site may have first come into use at around 250 B.C. to 250 A.D. If true, that is an impressive age.