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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.

142 posts

Beacon Hill Petroglyphs

Beacon Hill Petroglyphs

The Beacon Hill Petroglyphs are reported to have nearly 600 ancient etchings spread across 31 boulders. However, after an exhausting search of the site, which left us questioning our eyesight and sanity, we found a dozen or so at best. Perhaps the desert sun has a way of multiplying petroglyphs

Sacramento Wash Petroglyphs

Sacramento Wash Petroglyphs

Nestled in the far eastern reaches of the Mojave National Preserve and near the Mojave Road lies a hidden gem: the Sacramento Wash Petroglyphs. This easy sandy hike leads to two large rocky outcrops where a hundred ancient rock carvings await. The petroglyphs are primarily abstract symbols and are likely

Maverick Boulder Petroglyphs

Maverick Boulder Petroglyphs

Like the Lonely Stones Petroglyphs, this is another isolated boulder outcrop that makes you ask why Native Americans would pick this particular boulder to leave their marks. The answer to that question remains a mystery. I did find a small tinaja; however, that makes me think they would have stopped

Diamond Solstice Pictographs

Diamond Solstice Pictographs

Nestled in the Wonderland of Rocks and just around the corner from Alister's Cave in Joshua Tree National Park is another rock shelter with pictographs: the Diamond Solstice Pictographs. The main symbols here are a sunburst arc, diamonds, and diamond chains. Their meanings have been lost to time,

Aiken's Arch Pictographs

Aiken's Arch Pictographs

The pictographs inside of this arch, which formed from a collapsed lava tube, are some of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the East Mojave and have been dated to 9,300 BP. The symbols are mainly in red ochre and depict a variety of figures, primarily abstract, but

Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs

Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs

The Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs (also known as Indian Wells Petroglyphs) are one of the more extensive sets of petroglyphs in the Mojave National Preserve. There are hundreds of petroglyphs here on desert-varnished rhyolite boulders. Almost one whole hillside is covered with them. Ancestral Mojave and Chemehuevi probably camped here for

Barnwell Petroglyphs

Barnwell Petroglyphs

In March of 2023, fellow explorers JP, Darthjenni, and W9JIM invited me on a trip to the Mojave National Preserve. The Mojave Preserve (and the East Mojave in general) is such a great place to off-road, camp, and explore. The park is crisscrossed by graded and 4WD dirt roads that