A few years ago, I had a nice hike up this sandy canyon to check out some algae fossils and petroglyphs on limestone bedrock. Not much out here in these lonely hills of eastern Death Valley National Park.
"Distant Thunder" Canyon Petroglyphs
35 photos
Some fossilized algae nodules from the Cambrian period.
It amazes me the plants that can eek out an existence in this harsh terrain.
Some more fossilized algae.
Closer view.
Fossilized algae in stained limestone. Sounds tasty, yes?
Some Encelia grows among the fossils.
While I was poking around the fossil area, I found some historic mining cans. They are hole-in-cap, meaning they are pretty old.
I hike further and come in an interesting bend in the canyon.
There are petroglyphs here. These are quite faint.
Note the purple glass shard next to the faint petroglyph.
More faint petros.
They cover many surfaces on both sides of the canyon.
Wall of petroglyphs.
Looking down the canyon.
Some of the faint ones are disappearing.
Lots of rake (rain?) symbols.
Strange figure.
An interesting and unique glyph.
Closer view of some of the rain-type symbols. Note the faint ones below.
Rake with zig-zags below.
As you can see, there are quite a few petroglyphs here but they are generally faint and you could walk right by them.
Interesting panel.
Touched by his noodly appendage?
Petroglyphs are scattered all around.
Water?
Closer view of rain-rakes.
I had to do some scrambling to reach these.
Higher up.
This was as close as I could get to these without falling off the cliff.
These are very faint.
Small figures.
This one is different from the rest.
Up on top of the rocks.
Circle and lines on limestone ripple marks.
Back down in the canyon, there is a lone mesquite tree. There isn't a spring here, but water probably pools in the limestone bedrock and that could be the reason the petroglyphs are here. This could be a source of water in very dry country.
Last Updated on August 4, 2020 by Guy Starbuck
