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Discoveries
We were settled into our next camp spot mid afternoon. We made one quick hike around the area to reacquaint ourselves, enjoyed a shower with the sun still out, and then wandered to take in the quickly changing light of the evening.
We covered a lot of ground and made a quick check of the many archeological sites we’ve visited before. The nearby tank held a little water. With the area so dry, we kept our distance from the water so not to disturb animals coming in.
We made an almost identical sweep of the area on our morning wander.
We were a bit restless. We decided we wanted to head even deeper into Kofa. Something seemed to be calling us.
We heard the new little knock in the front end as we drove out the rough road. We both agreed it was the right front. We pulled onto a clear level spot to investigate. I had a suspicion it involved the recent installation of the new suspension parts. We both climbed under the truck, looking, pulling, testing. We found nothing of concern. The sound was so minor, there were no issues with function, so we continued on. But that little noise haunted us and we were straining to hear it. Were we overreacting? We had no problem reaching our next destination.
We’d visited here before and set up in the same site we’d used years ago. There is a developed watering hole – tank – in the canyon gorge above camp.
We immediately started exploring. The weather was so darn comfortable. Our spatial awareness was excellent. We were back in shorts.
It was so much fun finding treasures.
We entered an place where we had previously found rock art, today we expanded the search area, and were absolutely astounded by what we found.
These are – to date – are the most special petroglyphs we have found. And, they were within feet of where we had looked before.
Incredible!
We woke the next morning eager to explore more of the area. What other treasures would we find? We were off.
In a small wash with a cliff band of rock, the discoveries continued.
This, I believe, is the first time we’ve seen a spiral with an inner dot.
We climbed up onto a broad bajada. With the area so dry – 8 months since it last rained, we were told - the sheep trails leading to the remaining water holes were pounded into the earth.
Many tanks we’ve seen holding water were now bone dry.
But even with these dry conditions, little sparks of beauty were around.
We returned to camp.
There was still plenty of daylight left so we relaxed, made popcorn, and enjoyed the warmth. But we cannot sit still for long. We decided to climb up on the steep high slopes behind us. We had already looked at several possible shelter sites, why not look for more? What we found sent us scrambling back to camp to grab the camera and Julie’s phone.
It was a challenge to reach. The ceiling was too low to serve as a shelter. We could not sit up inside, but it was a pictograph gallery. Incredible.
It was actively used by sheep and the floor was littered with sheep pellets.
The Sheep Shit Shelter. Oh, what we’ll crawl through for pictographs. We both had grabbed old shirts from the truck.
You don’t see much in the photo above, do you? DStretch really helps.
Most of these are on the ceiling. Especially exciting were the larger two-color pictographs. Wow!
We crawled out, brushed each other off, and took in the views from this high vantage point.
We worked to find a much longer, but a bit easier route back down.
Clouds built overnight. It made for wonderful first light. The display was fantastic.
We packed up that morning. Driving out we encountered a convoy of Fish & Wildlife trucks, five 3500 Ram 4x4 pickups each pulling a large water tank trailer, driving in. We stopped and talked about how dry it is. “We’re doing what we can,” one fellow said. “We need rain.”
We continued the long long drive out to pavement. It was time to do laundry.
Our adventure continues in the upcoming Part Five.
