Early one morning we were headed out along a well-travelled route that we’ve followed for the start of many adventures. This time, we noticed that we could clamber our way over into a small, semi-hidden little valley. When we did that, we found a cluster of boulders with a small habitation site tucked in among them.
Over the winter we found a small site with some unusual imagery out in Joshua Tree. Some of the elements are reminiscent of the pictographs at Counsel Rocks, which lies many miles to the north. This site seems like it was part of a habitation site at some point because there is a pretty big patch of midden a short distance away, but I didn’t find any grinding slicks adjacent to it.
Sometimes you come across a site that is almost stupefying in its sheer abundance – petroglyphs on every rock, for a quarter mile or more. These sites are thrilling to find, but they are difficult to document. I have a few like that sitting on the back burner, where every time I open the photo folder I think “I can’t really not show any of these 200 photos I picked from the 500 I took, they’re all good photos showing interesting elements … but who would want to sit through a blog post the length of a football field?”
Parts of Joshua Tree National Park can be bewildering and dangerous if you’re not used to navigating overland, or not careful when you do wander.
For example, the Wonderland of Rocks has a reputation for being bewildering, and it can be if you are new to traveling overland, or have a bad sense of direction. Of course, it is potentially dangerous if you go alone, but the danger is not so much in getting lost as it is in slipping and falling while scrambling!
In the first part of this entry, The Foyer, I described how we found this site, and what we saw in the first part of it.
After we had rested a bit and restored some food and water to our tired bodies I started documenting the second part of the site. My companion wandered outside to examine the little “patio” area outside the second entrance and look for any more pictographs close by.
I, on the other hand, found that the second panel was at such an angle, curving above my head and along the side of the tunnel, that I did my best work sprawled on my back on the dirt floor of the shelter, looking upward at the pictographs stretching above me.
We’ve been to some pretty amazing sites in Joshua Tree National Park, and it is hard to pick a favorite. Some are awe-inspiring because their pictographs are tucked away out of the reach of the elements and still as pristine as the day they were painted, however many years ago. Others have evocative imagery or a strong sense of place and of the people that made them. And others simply defy description: isolated, extensive, awe-inspiring.
How do I find sites? A question with many answers! Sometimes, we are simply out exploring and we stumble on a site we had no inkling of until we happened across it. Sometimes, it is a well-known site that we visit because we’ve heard of it. And sometimes, I hear a rumor and we set out to see what we can find.
This site was one of those “heard a rumor” sites. But even worse, it was one of those “multiple visits to the area and still nothing” sites! One warm spring morning, armed with newfound knowledge and determination, we set out to our target location to look at every boulder from every angle, because it had to be somewhere.
I’ve had my eye on a quiet corner of the desert for a while, and one day we had the opportunity to go wandering there. Traveling there involved the usual meandering up washes, taking detours for interesting rocks, and weaving through Joshua trees and around vegetation, all the while breathing in the arid, sharp desert air.
When we reached the general area I wanted to explore we fanned out and started poking around the rocks. I was examining a large swath of midden on the bank of a wide wash with growing excitement when my companion, who had disappeared into a tangle of boulders and brush, let out a shout. I stopped my investigation short and bounded over.
We recently had the pleasure of visiting a small pictograph site a fair bit off the beaten track. This site is hidden in a boulder pile sitting above a small wash, and it also features a rock with some grinding slicks. I’ve heard that the slicks had a mano ( the smoothed stone used to grind material on the slick ) sitting nearby, but it was gone when I visited. Pity. It seems like these artifacts get restless when people visit these sites – please don’t help them wander away when you visit! Continue reading
Joshua Tree National Park is a wonderful place to wander in the desert, whether you are out in the open among the Joshua Trees, or tucked in between granite outcroppings, wandering the washes.
That’s what we did one fall morning, and after poking into many nooks and crannies we happened to stumble across a tiny pictograph site.