An irresistible opening in a small granite outcropping.

Looking into the cave. The white pictographs on the ceiling are the most visible when you first look in. All of the pictographs are towards the entrance. We did take photos of the walls in the back, as you can see here, to DStretch them properly at home, but there were no pictographs there.

One of the white shield-like designs on the ceiling up close. These shield-type designs are very common in Great Basin petroglyphs.

The other white shield design. I’m not sure what damaged the bottom part of this pictograph.

The most elaborate element is up on the ceiling. It is painted in orangish red and has faded somewhat, so we’ll look at it with DStretch next. With the naked eye we can see that this looks like a sunburst. The first shield that we looked at is visible in the bottom part of the picture. The cave is not very tall so I was laying flat on the floor to take this shot.

Ah! It is a stylized abstract element, not a burst! This kind of outline element, in red pigment, is commonly found in the western Sierra foothills, in Yokuts territory, or further towards the coast in Chumash paintings.

Peering out of the shelter. Most of the elements are around the entrance of the cave, hidden inside a lip. At the very bottom of the photo my companion’s camera lens sticks up as he photographs the white shield element by the entrance ( the very first pictograph photo I showed. )

Here are some of the elements tucked in by the cave entrance. This photo looks up towards the upper left side of the cave, facing in. Elements are in white ( some more shields ) and orange. The larger of the two white shields overlays an orange element.

Here’s that white shield up close. We’ll look with DStretch next. The white pigment was quite dry when it was applied, judging by how much of the rock’s texture shows through.

The orange element is very spindly. It might even be accidental brushes of orange paint, made by the tip of a brush.

Next to these shields is this orange element – two rows of stippled hash marks. This design crops up at pictograph and even some petroglyph sites with surprising frequency. I’ve seen a petroglyph like this on the Volcanic Tablelands, and more than one red pictograph with this kind of design in Joshua Tree National Park, for example.

In this DStretch photo of the elements by the entrance you can see the hash marks more clearly.

There’s a pretty interesting orange element peeking out at the top of the previous picture. Here it is from another angle. It is fairly large, painted on the inside of the lip overhanging the cave entrance.

A good dose of DStretch, targeted at red pigment, pops the element out. It looks a little like a Japanese kanji, doesn’t it? You can also see the row of hash marks again in the background.

That element is worth one more good look with DStretch.

In its natural form.

The view outside, with some of the elements visible under the lip.

Another circular element, up towards the right by the cave entrance. This element is nestled into a natural hollow in the rock and like all the red and orange elements at this site it is somewhat faded.

DStretch shows it more clearly.

There are some red Rectilinear elements here, too. They are up towards the ceiling and can only been seen when facing the front of the cave.

DStretch of the elements. The one on the right seem to actually be a partial shield design.

Another really faint red element. It almost look like just a smudge of natural color.

Definitely a Rectilinear element, though.

The shallow mortar in the back of the cave. Given that there’s just one, and no signs of a habitation site outside, I’m thinking that this was a ceremonial site.

Up on the ceiling is this white imprint that might be a pictograph – or, since it is pretty small, might be the footprint of a wasp nest that was found once upon a time.

Here’s an overview of the elements by the tunnel entrance. A DStretch version will follow to help you pick out the elements we’ve looked at individually.

By targeting the red pigment, we can see several of the elements in context – the shield, the kanjii-like element, the dotted hash-marks, and more.

My exploration of the cave done, I head towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

Interestingly enough, that tunnel isn’t the only one in the formation! The back of the formation reveals another little cave. Nothing in this one though.

There is something interesting around the left side of the formation, as seen in the previous picture. One of the alcoves hosts a very nice pictograph.

Isn’t that a nice pictograph? The circular form was likely achieved by using some sort of a compass – rotating something around a fixed point. This element is reminiscent of the intricate circular element found at Burham Canyon.