I usually wear long pants in the desert, because the desert is full of sharp things. And I started out this trip in my usual outfit, but there was a sprinkling of rain the previous evening and the morning was muggy and absolutely wind still, so I was baking even with the ventilation zips open. I zipped off the legs and sure enough, a yucca got me a short while later. With this offering made to the desert, our stars aligned and we had a very successful trip. This was the first of three sites we found on this particular trek.

This nondescript cluster of boulders hides a nice little habitation site. The tiny opening in the bottom right of the photo is a pictograph shelter, and behind the shrubbery on the left there is a nice grinding slick workstation. There’s a good-size midden area stretching from the grinding slick workstation back into the boulder field.

A waist-high boulder with several grinding slicks on it.

Across from the grinding slick boulder is a small overhang with what could have been a portable grinding slick stone nestled underneath ( the stone in the center of the picture ). Note the dark-colored midden.

A close-up of the grinding station. This overhang is pretty small, I can barely sit upright in it. Just around the corner is a tiny, easterly-facing rock shelter.

I’ve got the camera almost flat on the ground, here. This shelter is really small.

In order to get in I have to crawl in on elbows and knees. Knees are a bit of a problem since I’m now wearing shorts, but it is just too hot for long pants. There’s some enticing pigment at the back of the little shelter, so in I go.

Quite a few elements! From the indistinct patches on the ceiling to the more vivid elements on the back wall, there is something to see on nearly every surface of this small shelter. Some of the elements, like the collection of closely spaced lines, or the dotted circle right in the center of the photo, are quite elaborate. There’s also a burst element hiding in the upper left corner. I need to wriggle forward a little more to properly see that part of the shelter.

Ooof, made it all the way in. Here’s that burst element again. Worth it! There’s a really nicely preserved abstract element tucked into the alcove just above it.

Very nice. This alcove catches a lot of sunlight so I’m not surprised that the lower elements are more faded than the upper ones.

Now that I’m flat on the ground I see that I’m not alone in the shelter. There’s an insect husk by the back wall.

What eats insects? The same thing that can weave some nasty pod with an attached egg sac, such as the one that I promptly discover dangling from a small alcove directly overhead. I decide not to investigate the pigment in this alcove too closely.

Right by my shoulder is this element, tucked into its alcove, so I take a close-up picture of it. I’ve seen similar elements in small alcoves in boulders in other parts of Joshua Tree National Park before. It seems to be a common theme.

Across from it is this small circle with connecting lines. This motif with the parallel lines reminds me of the Golden Hills site that has a very elaborate panel that heavily features this design. Interestingly, that site also features closely spaced parallel lines like the ones that appear close by in this shelter.

Here is a DStretch enhancements of the parallel lines, which was shown in earlier overview shots as well.

And here’s a DStretch view of the circle and its lines, as well as the nicely drawn dotted circle next to it.

With that, we’ve fully explored the little shelter. I start to back out of it, grateful that its floor doesn’t contain any spiky things. As I do so I look back at the burst element one last time. I am a bit intrigued by it …

Here’s a nice DStretch view of it and its accompanying elements. It almost looks like the burst element is meant to depict the sunrise, doesn’t it? The rays are mostly found at the top of the burst. Very interesting.

After I straightened up I turn around and look at the skyline. A nearby boulder pile has several notches in it. Maybe there is some truth to this shelter as a sunrise observatory? I would like to see the sunrise at this site at different times of year.

Just beyond the shelter, the grinding station, and the small shelter with the grinding platform in it there is a nicely sized, shallow overhang that would probably have made a good spot for a camp. In the upper left of this overhang there is a small alcove. And, as is typical of quite a few sites in Joshua Tree National Park, this small alcove has some abstract pictographs in it.

There! That’s a rather nice collection of elements. One of the elements is a bisected circle, a very common motif in this region. Seeing elements in an alcove like this reminds me of the Scattered Surprises site I found a few years ago.

We explore the rest of the boulder field but we don’t find anything else. This weathered jawbone, probably from a bighorn sheep, sits on a boulder. I see no other parts of the skeleton nearby, so I guess that someone placed it here.