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Rock Art

Native American pictographs and petroglyphs. No directions or waypoints to rock art sites unless they are already known or published.

157 posts

Garvanza Mine

Garvanza Mine

The Garvanza Mine sits in an unnamed canyon on the north slope of the New York Mountains. Few visitors find their way in, mostly because of the road: the last mile is a slow crawl over large boulders. From there the hike is a scramble up a wash with no

Black Lava Butte Petroglyphs

Black Lava Butte Petroglyphs

Black Lava Butte is one of a pair of mesas rising from the desert north of Pioneertown within the Sand to Snow National Monument, its dark basalt cap slowly eroding at the edges. Lava-covered mesas are rare in the Mojave, and these two stand as remnants of volcanic flows

Cliffs of Crosses Petroglyphs

Cliffs of Crosses Petroglyphs

Most East Mojave rock art sites have a mix of abstract designs, the occasional bighorn sheep, maybe a few human figures. This canyon has those too, but what sets it apart is the number of enclosed crosses pecked into the basalt cliffs. I didn't name it, but whoever

Hondo Wash Pictographs

Hondo Wash Pictographs

The Hondo Wash pictographs sit where granite boulders narrow the canyon to a passage. Rock art on both sides of the wash, exactly the kind of spot where people would pause as they moved through. The site features both petroglyphs and painted images in red and black. What's

Grass Canyon Petroglyphs

Grass Canyon Petroglyphs

Native Americans passed through Grass Canyon thousands of years ago and left their marks on the basalt. I am not sure why they picked these rocks, though. There are plenty of other surfaces around that don't have anything on them. But this spot where a basalt butte meets

Parson's Ranch Petroglyphs

Parson's Ranch Petroglyphs

A friend showed me these modern petroglyphs over a decade ago. He didn't know what to make of them and neither do I. They are clearly modern but why are they here? What do they mean? Why did someone bother to carve them? The symbols are carved into

Cary's Castle North Petroglyphs

Cary's Castle North Petroglyphs

In 2016, on an adventure north of Cary's Castle (one of many), I stumbled upon these petroglyphs hidden among the granite boulders of the Eagle Mountains. The abstract designs appear to be Desert Archaic in style, likely created by indigenous peoples who traveled these washes for thousands of