Not all rock art sites are out in the open. Some are hidden and you have to go out of your way, seek them out. I’m sure I’ve gone right by some petroglyphs or pictographs before, right on the other side of the rock, or past an overhang where you have to look back to see them, and not known.
Today’s site was one of those hard to see sites. I was walking along the top of a ridge while my companion walked in the wash down below. Rocks and careful stepping for me, sandy shoes for him. But I could see the backs of boulders he could see only the front of, and I spotted a carved rock face down below.
This is a well-hidden site, only visible if you are scrambling around out of your way. I first spied it from up high, and had to climb down to get close to it.Possibly more designs back on that boulder.Looks like the side of the boulder in that narrow passage has some weathered designs on it too. Time to head down and see what that is all about.As sometimes happen, I’m out in the middle of nowhere with miles of hard hiking between me and the pavement, and here we are at a site that is hard to photograph because of the light! Still, we can see a lot of the panel and the more interesting designs like the diamond motif at the bottom is clearly visible.The whole panel, as seen from a ledge nearby.A view of the whole panel, as seen from above with maximum zoom. The contrast between the dark shadows and the brightly lit rock makes it hard to see the panel as a whole. This site is best visited when the entire panel is either in sunshine or shadow, but that was not when we happened by!Not one of my best efforts, photographing this site. Or rather, it was a good effort, but not the best results! Ha. Tight quarters makes it hard to get the whole panel into a single frame if you stand in front and below it. Lichen obscures part of the panel, too.This is a closer look at the narrow passage we saw from above earlier. Definitely some elements here although they are very weathered. I think there might be some pigment here, too. It is not uncommon to see petroglyphs traced in red ochre on the Tablelands.Yes, definitely some ochre traced in the petroglyphs. The weathering makes it hard to really make out any designs though, and the passage is too narrow to get a good square on view of the panel.A short distance away this curved boulder holds a few basic designs. I’ll need a better angle to see the whole panel, though.A look at part of the site, seen from above. This is why you should walk around each and every boulder, everywhere, every trip …Another look at the narrow passage and the boulder with designs next to it. From up here it looks easy to get to that secondary boulder.It wasn’t all that easy, but after we climb down to the panels, I do make it to a better vantage point and get this picture.The elements are surprisingly delicate when you look at then from up close.A short distance away I spy this small, blue-green boulder on the ground. It is smooth on top, making me wonder if it was used as a metate at some point. Its color is unusual for the pinkish soil and boulders of the Tablelands. I wonder if it was ported here, and if it was used as a ritual object because of its striking color.A shallowly pecked panel a short distance away rounds out the site.
