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Please Click Here for – Part One
“Have you been to………………?”
The question above would come up in conversations with Steve and Deb. The answer most often was, “Yes, want to go there?”
Deb noted her map had a spot labeled “petroglyphs.”
“Have you been to this site?” She asked as she pointed at the map.
“Yes, want to go see it? It’s a large site that is pretty interesting.”
First off, the beavertail cactus was blooming. This put us all in a cheerful, positive mood.
In addition to the rock art, in a nearby shallow canyon, this site has a long stacked rock wall running through the juniper and pinyon.
Notice the book the Lady has in her hands. This will come up again.
There are also sleeping circles and metates.
The rock art here is varied and impressive. We took our time studying the walls.
Three types of rock art are present here – pecked in petroglyphs, scratched in designs, and pictographs.
DStretch brings out the faded red pictographs.
This one is special as, with DStretch, a pictograph of a rider on horseback becomes visible.
Note: while exploring this area Deb and Julie set off a rattlesnake. They never saw the snake but the loud buzz warning was heeded.
The next morning, we continued further east into Nevada. When our friends had asked the question, “Have you been to….?” Our answer, “It is one of the largest petroglyph sites in western Nevada. What to see it?”
This area takes work to reach. We led the way in driving. One spot we all did a bit of road work, moving rocks, filling in a drop off, to make it safe to continue. A long-abandoned stage road once came down this canyon. At the canyon mouth was a stage stop. The ruins of a well, stone buildings, and historic inscriptions remain.
The well exploits a spring here that, based on the amount of rock art and work stations, was used for centuries by the indigenous people.
Although this was quite impressive, we had to tell Steve and Deb, “This is not the site you asked about, it’s about a mile hike up the canyon. Let’s go!”
On the hike we came upon a Great Basin Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores) that was more than happy to pose for pictures.
The rock art site is a large group of basalt boulders with extensive petroglyphs.
The signature panel at this site is the upside-down man.
Remember the book the Lady was holding. It is a text book from the mid 1900’s on Great Basin rock art. It covers this site in detail with both photos and drawings of the petroglyphs found here. The Lady had brought it along in her pack as she had on our first visit to this site in November 2018, pictured below.
As you’ve figured out a long time ago, the Lady loves treasure hunts. If there’s a photo or drawing of a petroglyph in the textbook, she is determined to find it. And she marks the finds with a pencil circle or dot from a highlighter, as pictured below. I believe this is the school teacher in her. It does add an extra element of fun.
Notice the human like figure (b). The b is not highlighted because we did not find “Little Pecker Boy” on our last visit.
Here is the photo from the textbook.
At the time of the authors’ research for the book, petroglyphs were “chalked” to make them more visible. This practice is no longer done and rock art should not be touched in any way. Please don't.
Since we returned to this site, we all were determined, especially Julie, to find the missing Little Pecker Boy. We searched and searched and searched. No Little Pecker Boy. Where is he? We have a couple ideas to try on a future visit here. Here’s what we did find.
It was a hot day. When we returned to the trucks we decided not to camp here. We wanted to go higher for cooler temperatures. Enroute, we stopped at the small taqueria in tiny Mina, Nevada for dinner. It’s on the west side of 395. It’s good.
We made it to Candelaria and camped at the site where the Carson & Colorado train depot once stood.
The Lady and I had recently visited here.
For an evening walk we ventured westward on the old rail bed.
The next morning was beautiful, cool and clear. It was a good morning to climb Candelaria Mountain. Up we all went.
The landscape is covered with mines and prospects.
The summit provided a great view of the reservoir terminus of the Candelaria Pipeline, discussed in the link to our previous visit.
At the top Julie asked Deb a question on how to operate her smartphone. It was lesson time.
We climbed up one side of Candelaria Mountain. We decided to go down another side. The views and vistas were outstanding.
This mine was quite interesting as it excavated a vertical seam in the rock.
It was a grand morning wandering the slopes of Candelaria Mountain.
Our adventures continue. Please click here for - Part Three.
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