The Second Best Site | Return to the Desert #2

Just as with the Dewey Mine, there's been a rock art site in the heart of the Mojave Preserve that I've known about for several years but have never visited. So, when Mike @mk5 and I were coordinating a couple days of Joshua Tree planting, I was thrilled when - along with all the meals he wanted to cook for @mrs.turbodb and me - he piped up with:

Another thing that didn't occur to me until now... but given your interest in historic rock vandalism, perhaps we could track some down up there, as part of a planting hike?

m(never-seen-rock-art)k5

At any rate, by the time we finally got under way, the sun was racing towards the western horizon. This wouldn't be the best light for exploring the etchings, but I hoped that we'd have enough light - even after sunset - to enjoy a reasonably shadowless half-hour of discovery.

Plus, Mike had offered our choice of feast after we completed our survey of varnished rocks, and we were going to take full advantage of his delicious sounding menu.

I will happily cook two nights, in fact. But not three, and I insist on at least one. I further demand that you provide me with food on at least one other night. I can offer:

• 24 servings of 'chicken and dumplings'. Never gets old.
• Poached rainbow trout, served with rice pilaf and additional rainbow trout. (I murdered them myself!)
• Steak with random vegetables cooked in red wine. One component will be slightly overcooked and the other slightly undercooked, but I never know which. I will then drink the remainder of the red wine.
• NEW: Fish tacos! Devised, refined, and perfected during this summer's unprecedently prolific camping/fishing campaign... a hilariously elaborate and utterly impractical recipe. Served enthusiastically and incredibly slowly, but worth the wait.

Once we're thoroughly stuffed, I will either partially incinerate a batch of Jiffy Pop and offer it to you, or I'll bake a whole entire cake.

This site isn't unknown by any stretch, but I was surprised by how little travel the road seemed to experience.

Joshua Trees glowed under the Clark Mountains.

On our way.

A guilty grin as I was caught in the act - and with no opportunity to shrug off my goofy hood-under-hat - of snapping a photo.

The two-mile hike - or, at the speed we were going, more of a stroll - to the petroglyphs was quite pleasant. Temperatures had cooled off but were still pleasant, and with no wind to speak of, we enjoyed picking our way between creosote - that have overtaken an old mining road - toward the pile of rocks that promised to hook Mike on yet another class of destination to search out on his desert wanderings.

Dubious that he'd find anything of interest to look at, it was fun to watch Mike's reaction as we spotted the first panel.

"Look, it's a cactus!" -Mike
(It's probably not a cactus.)

It turns out that we'd stumbled upon what I can only refer to as the "second best site" (that I've found, and I've found a good number) for petroglyphs in the entire Mojave Preserve. Only this ancient highway tops it, in my mind.

Soon, we were all hopping around on the rocks looking for additional panels. Pointing out unique - and not-so-unique - discoveries, I realized that we'd seriously misjudged how much time we were going to need to see everything. Shifting from lazy stroll to keep-up-or-be-lost-to-the-desert, I hoped we could cover most of what there was to see. Boy, was I wrong.

We had to watch our step, there were glyphs everywhere!

A split panel below the 'cactus.' (left) | Two snakes. (right)

I really liked the bulbous shape in the middle here, which reminded me of a woman encased by some sort of wrapping.

Another encased woman and a fantastical falcon.

This glyph was great because it wrapped around the sharp edge of its canvas.

So much to see.

A panel of ... maps?

At the point of the bluff, both sides were covered in shapes and styles that we've encountered elsewhere in the preserve.

I really enjoyed how the light lines of the petroglyphs contrasted with the dark browns of the desert varnish and the pastel hues of the sunset.

Shields.

Dotted S.

Sometimes it's the rock that stands out, and the gentle curve on this one was spectacular.

One of the last petroglyphs I photographed before there wasn't enough light to continue reminded me of the Blueprint Petroglyph I'd searched for several times before eventually finding it.

With our ISO settings maxed out and barely enough light to navigate the boulders that were our bounty, we eventually called it quits and pointed ourselves back toward the Tacomas.

It would be shortly after 7:00pm when we pulled into camp somewhere along the northern slope of Cima Dome. Dinner - we'd agreed - would be delectable fish tacos, where the fish - two rainbow trout - were allegedly caught by the cook and saved precisely for this occasion.

As Mike assembled a more elaborate dinner than we've ever attempted on the trail, I took the opportunity to fashion an @mk5-style rendering of our camp site.

In the distance, I happened to catch - completely by accident - the vertical beam of Las Vegas' Luxor as it streaked into the sky!

Dinner was everything Mike promised it would be. Within 45 minutes of pulling into camp, he finally got the first bits - some extremely spicy "not the right peppers, but all I could find at the store" - sizzling over the propane fire ring. Half an hour after that, remainder of the utterly impractical recipe had been executed enthusiastically and we were all enjoying fresh fish tacos in the middle of the desert!

It was a fantastic way to end the day, and after downing every last fish-filled tortilla that he'd brought along, we clustered around the camp fire and chatted the night away. It was a situation that could have only been made better with a "whole entire cake," but apparently, we were going to have to wait on that tasty treat for another time.

 

 

The Whole Story

 

Filed Under