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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.

146 posts

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

1932 Slot Canyon Petroglyphs

1932 Slot Canyon Petroglyphs

A good friend gave me some tips on where a set of petroglyphs was hidden in the heart of Joshua Tree National Park. I hadn't heard anything about these petroglyphs and was definitely interested. He asked me to keep its location a secret, though. After a quick drive

Zombie Woof and the Shipwreck Pictographs

Zombie Woof and the Shipwreck Pictographs

These two pictograph sites are just around the corner from Hidden Valley in Joshua Tree. Although there are only a few pictographs here, they are still well worth a visit. Both sites were once used for bouldering (rock climbing) but are now off-limits. The climbers definitely used their imaginations when

Lonely Stones Petroglyphs

Lonely Stones Petroglyphs

On a stormy July day in 2021, I finally went out and visited the Lonely Stones Petroglyph site. As is often the case, it had been on my list of places to visit for years.