Monolith Alcove

Let's see if I can manage to get our thoughts off of the Coronavirus for a few minutes and transport you out to the Joshua Tree desert. I don't know about you, but I need a break from the gloom and doom.

A year ago to the day, I was tromping around east Joshua Tree looking for something called "Monolith Alcove". I had a rough idea where it was, and because the alcove is unique looking, I figured it would be easy to find.

A year ago we had something of a "super-bloom" happening. Even out in east JT, where rain is less than most other areas in the park, things were very colorful. As I started my hike, I stepped carefully to avoid stomping on flowers. Not an easy task!

What an interesting rock formation. What really caught my eye is the rocks on the ground. They don't look "random"; they look arranged. I wonder if those rocks were moved away from the rock formation to clear a space? Could this spot have been used as a shelter, or for some other purpose? It looks that way to me.

If you follow my blog, you already know that East Joshua Tree if full of interesting rock formations, arches and alcoves.

Ah, here's my first glimpse of Monolith Alcove. It's hard to get a sense of scale, but trust me, it's very large. I had nicknamed it "bigmouth alcove" before I learned it had already been named.

A closer view. You have to climb the rocks over on the right side to get up into the alcove. I've scoured blogs, photo sites, and asked local experts about rock art in this area, and I always get the same answer... Monolith Alcove. It was thought that this is the only significant rock art site in the entire area. That's why I was so excited to find what I've called the Water Dagger Petroglyph area... which includes the petroglyph, pictographs, bedrock mortars, potsherds, grinding slick and mono, and of course the water source. So it turns out there's a lot more going on out here than we thought a year ago when I made this hike! Let's take a look inside Monolith Alcove.

Definitely something here. Dstretch gives us a better look...

Wow, lots of interesting pictographs here. The middle one reminds me of a 4-lane highway! I can't recall seeing one like it before. The diamond pattern is one I've seen at multiple sites in Joshua Tree. Let's get in a little closer.

Pretty sure I can just barely make out a couple of faint handprints (below the upside down U shapes). There are other faded pictographs as well.

As I sat looking out from this alcove, I thought about what a privilege it is to see this site, and the rock art inside, made all those years ago. Even more special because so few have seen it!

As we start our hike out, we'll go by a few of the arches in the area.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Stay safe, and wishing everyone good health.
Looks like the next couple weeks could be extremely challenging.

Thanks for stopping by!!