This entry isn’t named for anything specific to the petroglyphs. Instead it is named after what the trip to see it was like! This is one of the last sites we visited using our little red truck, and no other site came closer to breaking the truck than this one did.
The funny thing is that there are two ways to get to it: the way we approached ( scenic but brutal for a tiny stock truck: down a rocky canyon with a river we had to ford multiple times ) or the way we left ( nice flat graded dirt road! ) Never have I been more thankful to get back to the pavement in one piece – not even that one time we — cough — walked for miles, didn’t find anything and ended up getting stuck in deep sand for an hour ( and we had to dig out with a flat rock because we didn’t expect to get stuck and didn’t have a shovel. )
Back to this site! At one point we thought we might be close, based on the clues we had and what the geography looked like, so we got out of the truck to walk around a bit.
As I got out my heart sank. There was a steady rivulet of liquid pouring out from under the radiator.
Oh no! I got on my hands and knees and dabbed at the puddle with a paper towel while my companion got the cameras ready. At this point we had already crunched, bounced and scraped our way over many rocks and been through the river several times, sometimes just pushing through and hoping for the best and other times getting out to see if the fords were too deep or if they had any treacherous rocks under the surface. During the last ford I had hit a rock dead on, and I was suddenly afraid that that had knocked a hole in something.
The liquid on the paper towel was clear and smelled of nothing. I wondered if it was simply water draining from the undercarriage after the river crossing, but it showed no sign of stopping.
Well, nothing much I could do about it except hope for the best and worry like all get out!
We didn’t find anything on that walkabout except for yet another ford we’d have to cross. This one looked like the deepest one yet, but at least it also looked like the canyon was finally coming to an end. We plowed through the ford one more time, parked in a little pull-out, and poked around some more. Absolutely no sign of petroglyphs. We were sure that our research wasn’t completely off, but there definitely was nothing here.
We got back in the truck ( me glancing worriedly at the radiator rivulet ) and drove off slowly. The terrain flattened out and opened up and we started along a very nice dirt road across an alluvial fan.
It was as we drove along, with the low bank of an ancient creek channel to our left, that I glanced over and spotted … a low, flat rock with petroglyphs! We found a spot to pull over and scurried back. Finally! The petroglyphs matched the description of what we were looking for, too – only about three or four miles from where we thought it would be! The terrain, on the other hand … I would have described it a little differently than my source did, but hey! We found it!
In the wash below the petroglyph site we found several pieces of purple glass, dating from the late 1800’s, and other historical debris.
The petroglyphs are mostly on low, partially buried basalt rocks like this one. In this case most of the surface has flaked away, leaving only traces of the petroglyphs.
The top of this boulder has a grounding slick. Below are two pecked circles. Creating these designs took some time – they are carefully pecked with a hammerstone and chisel.
The boulder that started it all off. There will be more pictures of it later. Note the nice dirt road in the background.
This boulder’s left-most design ( small circles connected with straight or wavy lines ) is an incredibly common design in the Great Basin.
This overview shot ( the boulder we just looked at is in the foreground ) shows how small the boulders carrying these designs are. The wash is to the right where the trees are.
A really faint design. All the designs are shallowly pecked.
There is a little burst-like motif in the center of the picture.
A partially buried spiral design. The rock in the background also has petroglyphs on it.
Petroglyphs all over this boulder.
The back of the boulder we just saw is also covered in petroglyphs.
A grinding slick in the foreground and another heavily decorated boulder in the background.
In this case the petroglyphs are more deeply scored. The boulder in the background also has designs. One looks like a stylized, elongated version of the Cosos style bighorn sheep with their boat-shaped bodies.
Weathered designs on a boulder.
Another burst motif. Pay attention to the small element at the bottom left – could be an anthropomorph.
The possible anthropomorph.
Another boulder with interlinked circles.
The forked lines on the side of this boulder barely shows up in photographs. Unlike most of the other designs, these are just etched into the rock as opposed to made by pecking away the desert varnish to expose lighter rock underneath.
Weathered, revarnished meander lines.
The boulder in the foreground has a concentric circle design on it. The boulder in the background is covered in densely packed lines.
The densely carved boulder. Again the designs are dominated by small circles and their connecting lines.
A short distance away this boulder has connected circles, a squiggle line, and a suspiciously pink petroglyph. I’m not sure if that pigmentation is modern or not.
Another spiral design, with another petroglyph boulder in the background. Some of the designs are now covered with litchen patches.
You need a keen eye to spot some of the petroglyphs.
This rock is getting buried in pine needles. Note more concentric circle designs on the right, and more connected circles in the center. This was apparently an important motif at this site.
I almost missed this boulder, hiding in the shade under the tree. The lower left has an interesting double circle, carved across some cracks in the boulder that form a cross in the center of the double circle. The top of the boulder has more designs.
A closeup of another concentric circle.
The light-colored surface atop the left-hand rock is a well-worn grinding slick. To the right is one of the few Rectilinear designs at this site. In the background lenticular clouds form over the nearby mountains. This put us in hurry-up mode, eager to get back to pavement before we get flooded out.
A look at the other side of the pictograph rock that first caught my attention.
Some of the boulders chosen for petroglyphs are barely more than rocks.
The area is beautiful.
Though the patination on the designs isn’t extreme they do seem weathered so they are probably several centuries old. The grey boulder in the foreground has two parallel lines curving around a series of dots. Overall this site is pretty well preserved.
This boulder is a bit different from the rest. It is larger and lighter in color, but the designs hemselves are also different. Note the series of dots running over the top half. These appear to be mimicing deer tracks.
A closer look at the deer tracks. Do you see how some of them consist of two oblong shapes, just like a real deer track would?
The petroglyphs on this boulder have wide, shallow lines. Their creator was very careful in the execution – the lines are straight and uniform, with no misdirected pecks.
Remember that partially buried spiral from earlier? There are more designs on the other side of that boulder. Note the long squiggle line running all the way up the right-hand side.
This is worth pointing out – this single boulder has a series of cupules ground into its side, forming a rough circle. Cupules is a very old form of rock art, but not all cupules are ancient. They were often made on “baby rocks” by women hoping for strong offspring, but they also had other meanings.
It was a gorgeous day to be outside – the light was crisp and sharp and the approaching storm very atmospheric. A note on this picture – after previewing it on the blog I thought “What the heck did I do to this picture? It doesn’t look real.” I went back to the original RAW file I shot and looked at the sidecar – but guess what, all the sliders are still in the starting position. This is really what that day looked like to my camera.
The petroglyphs on the side of this boulder looks almost chain-like, or like a braid design.
We spent about an hour slowly wandering along the ancient riverbank, finding more and more petroglyphs as we tracked back towards the canyon. Almost all petroglyphs were on small boulders, none higher than about four feet. I’m used to finding petroglyphs on large, impressive boulders, but this area of the Great Basin seems to have sites where the petroglyphs were simply carved on whatever small boulders were around.
After we had our fill of looking around and photographing petroglyphs we got back in the truck and tackled the journey back to the state line. We were staying along the scenic Eastern Sierras and this had been a long day trip to see this site. It was all well worth it.
What about the radiator, I hear you ask? Well, I was certainly afraid that we’d be stuck out in the sticks with a busted radiator, but the rivulet did stop eventually and the fluid levels were still fine. We made it back safely so I have to guess that the design of this truck somehow scoops up a ton of water when it fords a river, and then slowly releases it — no doubt to worry its owner into never trying anything like that again!
As far as the site goes – if you visit this site make sure to respect it! It is easily visible from the road if you have an eye drawn to designs on rocks. Fortunately the people of this part of the world are respectful towards cultural heritage – none of the designs are vandalized or shot up as I’ve seen at many other sites.
Many of the petroglyph rocks are low and easy to step on. Don’t. Walk around them, don’t disturb them, and take only photographs. Some of the petroglyphs were half-buried but we made no attempt to excavate them. Remember – any kind of excavation at archeological sites is prohibited by Federal law.