We’re working our way through a good-sized petroglyph site, exploring a ridge with several surprises. The sun is a little too high in the sky for good photos, and the wind is a little too brisk for perching on boulders while trying to take photos. But all those things fade away into unimportance when you have petroglyphs to see!
A nice grouping of elements. Look carefully, there are a lot more elements in this area than you’d think at first glance.Most of the elements on these boulders are incised rather than pecked. The elements are impressively precise – perfect round shields, Rectilinear elements with straight lines … and look, there’s a bird print hiding in the little cave below one of the boulders.A closer look at the smaller boulder with the squiggle line. A lot of the rock exfoliated away so some of the petroglyphs may be lost.Scrambling up into the formation behind those boulders is rewarding. There are several more elements to be seen, including the deeply incised shield element visible in the center left of this picture.Also visible in the previous picture is this intricate element. I can see a quartered circle up top, a burst element below … I wonder if this was meant to be a single design, or multiple smaller elements grouped together?Some weathered, deeply incised elements that are not easy to see until you’ve turned around to climb back down. These are the kind I love to find – obscure, seemingly randomly placed … why here?The quartered circle is easy to make out, but I can’t quite tell what the other two elements represented. They are weathered and deeply varnished.More weathered shield designs. On the right two elements, both quartered circles, touch each other. To the left are two more shield designs.Those two shields are easy to spot, but don’t overlook the wriggle line to the left of them.From up here this large rake element on the top of the boulder is a little easier to see.The right hand side is much more carefully pecked than the left hand side.Some additional elements at the top of the formation.Back on firm ground. Time to take another look at this grouping of elements.Here is another of those Rectilinear elements with the dots. Rows of dots and solid lines alternate. This is a pecked design, so even the solid lines look like it might have been dots that were connected to form a straight line later.A shield design, clinging to the top of a boulder.Looking back, there are several small circles down at the base of the outcropping. Interesting! We saw something similar in the previous entry.
That’s it for now! We’ll move on in the next entry, with the sun reflecting brightly off the rocks and the silence in our ears, broken only by the sound of our footsteps.
