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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.

148 posts

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.

Halloran Spring Petroglyphs

Halloran Spring Petroglyphs

Surprisingly, just off the I-15 freeway northeast of Baker in the Mojave Desert of California are four or five groups of rock art scattered across small basalt hills and along a sandy wash. The main site is right next to the freeway. And when I say right next to the

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Down in the southern reaches of Joshua Tree National Park are Porcupine Wash and the Ruby Lee Millsite. The Park Service says the mill dates back to the 1870s. They probably know something I don't. I could only find evidence that the mill site dates from the Depression

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hidden in a limestone canyon in the Mormon Mountain Wilderness of southern Nevada are two alcoves with pictographs (and a faint petroglyph or two) on their walls. Some of the pictographs are of riders on horseback—a clear sign of historical contact with the Southern Paiute and really fascinating to

Quartz Butte Pictographs

Quartz Butte Pictographs

Back in early 2022, I met up with a fellow rock art enthusiast to do a little scouting expedition in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. There is a small pictograph and petroglyph site there that he knew about, and we wanted to see if there were any more

The Blueprint Petroglyph

The Blueprint Petroglyph

The desert has gone silent. Where once it was inhabited by homesteaders, miners, and even ranchers, now it's a checkerboard of wilderness areas delineated by long, lonely roads. Surely many interesting and historic sites remain, but how accessible are they now that most of the roads have been