Nevada Ancient Rock Art - November 2018

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A Quick Weekend Trip

"Want to go somewhere this weekend?" the Lady asked. I think this was Friday morning.

"How about Nevada," I answered. "Let's search again for those rock art sites we've tried to find."

As quick as that a trip was put together. It only takes a few minutes to load the truck and camper. Our backpacks are always ready. Hiking boots are stored in a tote bag along with clean socks. That is tucked behind the passenger seat in the cab. Our duffle bags generally contain the same items, just a minute or so to throw them in. Food is easy. We may even stop at Smiths in Gardnerville on the way to stock the dry good bin and refrigerator.

We were on our way around mid afternoon. We had dinner at Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining.

We had an hour or so of daylight left so we drove off in search of a new campsite with a panorama view of Mono Lake. The roads got smaller and narrower. We wove through pinyon pines where the Lady got out and spotted the way for the camper to slide through the branches. We walked one section to see if it was passable for us. We finally reached a high spot with a space off the track to fit the truck. We called it home for the night.

We found the view we were looking for.

This was a great breakfast spot Saturday morning.

We broke camp quickly as we had a lot of driving ahead for us. We were heading into Nevada's backcountry.

Our first search was for a pictograph site. It was on the face of a large granite boulder. Granite was a key for this search. What mountain range was granite? We worked our way across the bajada heading toward a large boulder we had spotted from where we parked the truck.

We had found the pictograph panel.

The Lady's idea for the bottom element was a map of canyons to follow to reach the mountains.

The upper element is intriguing. Does it depict a comet or a meteor entering the atmosphere?

This was a very special site to find, especially on the first try.

We started in toward the main site we wished to find and attempted to once before. A large flat almost bisects a small mountain range. The flat can be accessed via a drainage on both the west and east side so it is easy to imagine this would have made a good travel route for the ancient ones. We approached from the west and easily made it past the now dry sections that were gumbo on our last attempt. The road got worse as we traveled across the flat until forward progress was stopped by a new water cut gully. It was time for lunch and to turn around.

On our retreat, we stopped to see if we could locate a small rock art site at the mouth of the west drainage. Something had caught my eye and the Lady was eager to investigate.

It was the large rock and it held petroglyphs.

The opposite side had an almost faded sheep and circles.

Our research material indicated there was one more large rock with two hands. We spread out and our search was successful. The hands were there but very faint.

We retraced the 25 miles we had driven in and then consulted our notes for plan B. We decided to drive around the mountain range and look for an approach in from the east. The dirt roads were initially better due to a couple operating mines but our route deteriorated as soon as we turned off the graded dirt. We parked the truck and investigated the entrance up the canyon on the east side. We returned to the truck and decided where we were made a great spot to camp. It was now late afternoon.

We took care of set up and prepared dinner, but not before a quick shower outside and back up into the camper to dress.

We walked as the sunset moved long shadows across the landscape.

We heard a "blow" as we climbed the hill and looked around to find the feral horse source. Four horses were above us. One was unhappy with our presence and continued to exhale loudly. We hollered up that a few snorts wouldn't work with us.

The evening light was wonderful to be a part of.

The feral horses finally did as we directed and all four stood on the sky line.

Night came early as we did not want to miss the return to standard time so we set all our clocks back an hour on Saturday morning. It did give us a chance to sit out longer under the stars.

"I've seen two "Shooters" and it's not even six o'clock!" the Lady exclaimed as the second shooting star arced across the sky. Julie loves to see "Shooters". It was a beautiful night.

The dawn Sunday morning was spectacular.

We started our hike right after our breakfast, goat meal with blueberries and raspberries.

We suspected we were in the correct canyon when we discovered the first petroglyphs at the mouth.

These, to us, looked to be pronghorn.

A short ways up the canyon was a spring, always an important feature in this arid land. Close by was a petroglyph.

The spring had been exploited by cowboys. A broken down well remains. The blades for the windmill were tangled at the base.

Nearby rocks were adorned with historic inscriptions.

Pinyon pines were starting to appear above us.

A little further up the canyon was a granite boulder with glyphs similar to the ones on the rock at the west end.

Continuing on a mile or so further up the canyon we found a bench covered with basalt boulders. They were covered with an incredible array of drawings or symbols.

 

I particularly liked this petroglyph. The natural hole in the rock was used as part of the design and also, lichen is growing over the glyph.

We both were thrilled at finding this site on our second try. The Lady worked with our research materials and notes.

We still wanted to find the upside down man. As the light changed through the morning, it finally stood out, although parts of it are now faint.

This is an amazing site to visit.

We enjoyed our walk back to the truck.

We dropped the top and started the drive toward home. We returned to the Mono Basin late in the day and decided to drive up to Lundy Lake. We were surprised the Mono County campground was still open and it was almost empty. The Lady noted, "We're here, it's quiet, let's stay." I agreed and we dropped anchor.

We walked up to Lundy Lake. The wind was howling down canyon, the lake covered with white caps. We retreated back to the lee side of the Southern California Edison dam that created this reservoir. The evening light glowed in the canyon.

You have to love the eastern Sierra Nevada in the off season. The hordes are gone. You can walk up the middle of a paved road, linger, and take photographs of the evening sky.

It was a successful trip. We found what we were looking for. It is just so good to get away and turn our adventuresome spirits loose.