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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.

145 posts

Born Again Pictographs

Born Again Pictographs

The spectacular Born Again Pictograph site lies deep in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. It is located in the granite maze wilderness of Queen Mountain and is a bit of a hike to reach. This rock shelter was once a habitation site and is covered with faded pictographs.

Robidoux Inscription and Pictographs

Robidoux Inscription and Pictographs

On a late autumn day in 1837, a fur trapper from Santa Fe, Antoine Robidoux, stopped along a narrow canyon in the Territorio de Alta California (what is present-day Utah). Beaver pelts were surprisingly lucrative at the time, and as hard as it is to believe today, the Uinta River

Red Hole Wash Pictographs

Red Hole Wash Pictographs

After a long hike across empty sand flats and through desolate canyons, we found a small alcove with a few Fremont figures and a six-color rainbow pictograph on the back wall. I’ve never seen anything like it. The site is way out in the middle of nowhere with no

Ascending Sheep Pictographs

Ascending Sheep Pictographs

We found an amazing set of Barrier Canyon Style pictographs in the Utah desert. The panel consists of an animal spirit figure surrounded by bighorn sheep and two amorphic figures on the right. In the center of the panel, the animal spirit figure is a composite of a bighorn sheep’

Blue Sun Pictograph Cave

Blue Sun Pictograph Cave

My friend Don Austin coined the name "Blue Sun Cave." The Kumeyaay people once lived here. And even though there is no water nearby, the shelters created by the massive granite boulders provided a welcome home in this harsh desert. The pictographs are considered to be the La

Monolith Alcove Pictographs

Monolith Alcove Pictographs

In early 2016, I met up with DarthJenni and JP to do some exploring in the backcountry of Joshua Tree. We went on a slightly longer-than-normal hike into a seemingly endless maze of granite boulders, arches, and spires. It was almost enough to get lost in. We wandered through an

Circle Sun Valley Pictographs

Circle Sun Valley Pictographs

While hiking in the backcountry of Joshua Tree over the winter, the good folks over at Peregriff and I came across this small pictograph site. There isn’t much to the site, just a simple rock shelter with a handful of red pictographs on the ceiling, but it is an