Petroglyphs

It took a while to find the petroglyphs on the Volcanic Tablełands. In an earlier post last fall: Volcanic Tablełands, Take Two, I talked about the petroglyphs that are on the tablelands and posted photos.

You can drive miles and miles over washboard dirt roads and see only sagebrush, rabbit brush, rocks, lizards, mountains, an occasional hawk, heron, or raven, wonderful light and awesome sunsets. Since the temperatures this summer hovered around 102 (in the shade) it really wasn’t the time to explore the desert. But one evening recently after driving for several miles over the washboard, I discovered that I had given up my earlier search too early by making a right turn off the road instead of continuing. Had I kept going, the first big batch of petroglyphs was just past where I turned off.

In trying to be factual about the petroglyphs, I found a great article written for the Sierra Web – Guide to the Eastern Sierra. Click on this link to read all about the local petroglyphs (and it has pointed me to more places 😉 ): Sierra Web Petroglyphs The long and short of the story is, no one knows for sure what the symbols mean, they are thousands of years old, and the recent theft of priceless petroglyphs is a crime, particularly for the Paiute-Shoshone people. It is a very spiritual place.

I very nearly stepped on this horned lizard after having just read about their species on a signboard several miles back on the hard-top road.

This Great Blue Heron’s favorite spot for viewing the valley is this rock. Water is nearby in the grasses.

I believe the lighter rock is one of the spots where petroglyphs were stolen. Big sheets of rock face are missing from this area.

A spacecraft and picture showing propulsion?