Thursday, April 14, 2022

Overnight Hike to Cowboy Rock

 This one has to be in my "top 5 hikes of all time" category. Which is pretty funny, because if you were to count how many times I've claimed a hike to be in my "top 5" on this blog, well, let's just say the math doesn't work out. And just to be clear, it's not so much the hike, as the destination, and the fact that it was my first overnight backpacking trip.

For years, I had absolutely no interest in lugging a heavy pack and sleeping on the ground. But about a year ago, something changed, something clicked, and I found myself thinking how fun it might be to do an overnight somewhere. Just hike out to the middle of nowhere and sleep under the desert stars. It might have had something to do with reading "Up and Down California in 1860-1864" by William Brewer. His discription of the landscape and sleeping under the stars every night stirred my imagination! 

The big advantages with an over-nighter are [1] you can cover more ground because you're spreading the hike over two days and [2] you have a lot more time to explore your destination because you don't have to worry about getting back to your car before it's dark. The big downside is the heavy pack because of the extra gear that's needed (extra food and water, sleeping bag, etc). Water quickly becomes the heaviest thing in your pack when backpacking in the desert.

Fortunately, my friend Mitch is always up for an adventure and has a tremendous amount of backpacking experience. I told him this was a "bucket list" thing for me, and please tell me what equipment I need for an overnight backpack in the desert. I am now a card-carrying member of REI!
 
I knew where I wanted to hike. There is an area called Cowboy Rock. It's both remote and difficult to find. Because of the distance and other things to check out in the area, we really needed two days. The location will remain a closely guarded secret. So off we go, with my backpack so full of gear that I could just barely lift it off the ground and on to my back!
 
The area is a confusing jumble of boulders, and it's easy to get disoriented. After much wandering around without any luck, we finally spotted what we were looking for.
I give you... Cowboy Rock! Pictures don't do it justice. From my experience, pictographs are much more common in this part of the desert than petroglyphs. This is a large petroglyph pannel with many different motifs. The only one I've seen that rivals it might be Newspaper Rock, but it's glyphs aren't as clear and well preserved as these.
 

Besides being awe-inspiring just to see, Cowboy Rock is thought to be an important example of rock art resulting from cultural contact. There's a 2005 publication called "An Examination of Probable "Cultural Contact" Rock Art Sites in Southern California and Northern Baja California" by Jeffrey LaFave, and it lists Cowboy Rock as an example. Both the horseback riders and woman wearing a dress are thought to be a result of cultural contact.
Motifs include a rattlesnake and woman wearing a dress.


 
This large boulder adjacent to Cowboy Rock also has some petroglyphs, including another horse and rider.
  
After setting up camp, I decided I wanted to photograph Cowboy Rock as the sun set and the stars came out. I used my headlamp to light up the foreground.




Wow, look at all those stars!!! This photo was taken at 8:57PM. Just imagine how beautiful a full of stars this sky was as the night progressed!

The next morning, Mitch took this photo of me sound asleep. Dead to the world, as they say. I fell asleep quickly, but then woke up a couple hours later and had trouble falling back asleep. I watched the star constellations rotate slowly overhead, and followed the shooting stars as they sped across the sky. I listened to the absolute silence. It was a truly beautiful night! I finally fell back asleep an hour or so before daylight.
 
As I do my best to wake up, Mitch climbs up on a boulder to get some photos. He's also been busy boiling water for coffee and our freeze-dried "breakfast skillet" meal, which was surprisingly good!
 
Mitch prefers to sleep in a tent... keeps the creepy crawlers out!

Early morning light shadow selfie.
 
One of the rewards of overnight camping... the morning view! This is the first thing I saw after dragging myself out of my sleeping bag.
 

First light.
 
Would I do an overnight backpack again? Absolutely! But I would be very selective about distance and pack weight. We covered a little over 13 miles, and with those heavy packs, my joints were aching badly. Especially my hips and lower back. Long backpacking trips with heavy packs are best left to the young, or people healthy joints!
 
Thanks for joining me on this adventure!
If you happen upon Native American cultural sites, 
please respect them, and leave them exactly as you find them.
Linking with Skywatch Friday.

45 comments:

  1. You do find such interesting places - beautiful petroglyphs

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  2. What a great overnight trip! I'd love to do that but my family/friends are that kind of people.

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  3. Well, that sounds like an experience. Glad you got a chance to do it. It sounds like you'll do it again in the future.

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  4. ...who's counting! It looks like the desert gets cold at night. Take care and have a beautiful weekend.

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  5. That is a very interesting place! You're really brave to stay overnight! Thanks for all the lovely photos!

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  6. That rock is amazing! I’m surprised the drawings are still so bright and clear. What a wonderful place to spend the night.

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  7. What an adventure! As a kid in the west we didn't think a thing about throwing a sleeping bag down in the middle of nowhere and going to sleep. Loved looking at the stars and we could see satellites and shooting stars and all sorts of other stuff.
    I love all the rock art. Blows my mind about the cultural contact stuff. One day I just know that you'll stumble across the Rosetta Stone of Native American Rock Art and we'll know what they ancients were trying to say.

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  8. Amazing rock art you saw there. I do have to feel for you lugging all that gear along for a night. Like the night shots with the rock. You did the same as me in that those ones I took the swan at the end was lit up with my head torch

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  9. Some of my favourite memories are being in places with dark skies and looking up and seeing the stars as they're meant to be seen- not the handful you can make out in city conditions.

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  10. The petroglyph is amazing. I would agree with possible cultural contact, speaking as an absolute non-expert. I did one backpack trip back in my 20's, and gave up - it wasn't for me. I've tent camped a lot, though I haven't done it in over 20 years - in other words I have great respect for what you attempted. Gear must be a little lighter than it was 30-40 years ago, but water is still the same weight!

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  11. I love those stone age graffities. Human figures are kinda stone age selfies also.

    I like the 13th one best. Is that ISS on the sky?

    Camping in desert, that´s first. Looks like you had a great over nighter.

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  12. Wow, this is a significant rock with so much cultural history! Absolute silence, is pretty rare for a city dweller. On the country side there is more of that. So, you didn't even have a tent with you.... you're brave!

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  13. Dearest Peter,
    That was a memorable hike with so many added bonuses. The night sky overhead and also the early morning light.
    One wonders about that Cowboy rock, what stories it could tell about how and why it received those petroglyphs.
    But you lived it!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  14. Fantastic scenes! Have a good weekend.

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  15. Nice to hear how much you enjoyed your hike. The place is intriguing too. We can admire incredible starry skies here in Finland too, in the cold and clear winter nights, as we live far from heavy illuminated areas.
    Happy Easter to you, Peter, and thanks for your kind visit to my blog! 🌈

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  16. wow! awesome! another big challenge done (overnight hiking). I am still waiting for the click to happen.

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  17. I love your sunrise pictures. I like Mitch's tent! And I find it fascinating that the rock art seems so much the same as what I've seen along the Columbia River, on the dry side.

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  18. Love your pictures of Cowboy Rock - the modern graffiti of jet-trails in the sky adding a whole new perspective! I used to do a lot of backpacking/camping trips in my younger days, but now I get no further than occasionally glancing at my tent and sleeping bag at the back of the cupboard!

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  19. Wow what a great event. To wake up and see the stars overhead. That stone with the petroglyphes is marvelous and those sunrise morning photo's absolute unbeatable. Good work again. Only by the idea alone I have now pain in the back.

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  20. What an awesome night! These nature images are simply breathtaking!!

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  21. I can sympathize with your joint pain! Age really does sadly take its toll each decade of life. That said your experience was well worth it. Cowboy Rock was amazing to see! I was trying to see what story it told. May it always remain so well preserved!
    I've only camped under the stars a few times when younger, as I feared wild carnivorous animals and snakes more than the experience, but I was always happy afterward to have done it and see the amazing dark sky view of the Milky Way. It would be good for you to keep your camping equipment in your car from now on in case you were detained by car trouble or bad weather or you decide at the last minute that you wanted to spend more time in an area. It is a good investment!

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  22. What a great experience. It's almost too much to imagine people from long ago being there and recording events. I love the morning desert view. We live out in the country with no street lights, etc...and the stars are so bright I feel like I could reach out and touch them, so I know your feeling on that one!

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  23. What a wonderful experience with amazing and beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend.

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  24. What an absolutely awe-inspiring experience … falling asleep under the stars and seeing artistic expressions shrouded in the mysteries of a bygone era. Haha … the very heavy backpack, though, is a lesson well earned. :))

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  25. That sounds like quite an adventure! Stunning photos as always. My Dad took me to the lake at night a few times and you could see every star in the sky since we were away from the lights of town. Happy Easter to you!

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  26. Wow! What an experience ~ there are no words ~ your excellent photographs tells it all ~ so beautiful ~ so happy for you and glad for us to share in your photo adventure ~ Again ~ Wow! Xo

    Wishing you laughter and love in all your days,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  27. What a great experience. If I were younger, I think I would enjoy it very much. Several years ago, I was driving back to Phoenix from Tucson after dark. I took a state route instead of the very busy freeway. The stars were so intense that at on place I pulled over into wide spot on the road and opened the sunroof to just gaze at all those stars. It was magical.

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  28. AMAZING!!! Oooo-weee! Thank you for sharing this adventure with us. I'm glad your friend has had enough experience to get you started & keep you safe. - Cowboy Rock!! What a treasure. - The Stars? Man-o-man. One of the things i miss the most - stars. (There's so much light pollution here, there is no way to actually see the true night sky. - All the wonder is hidden. (sigh) So, color me grateful that you mentioned those Stars. - so, there are fun exercise programs that are stretch based. It's a little bit newer way to assist our bodies to remember how we are actually created. - I'm pretty sure you can find bits on youtube . . . wait, I'll be right back . . . "essentrics" - Yes!! I just typed that word into youtube - and there are LOTS of choices & examples . . . I wouldn't be so dweeby, except - I 'discovered' the program earlier this year - it's really helped me - (and my body likes it, it feels good.) - I sure would like to think I could share something good with you - because - YOUR posts mean a lot to me. Thanks again & again. -g-

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  29. My daughter has gone out on several overnight camps "under the stars" (mostly Grand Canyon area). She says there is nothing like it. I love reading about other people doing this as it sounds so fantastic and it is extremely unlikely I will ever get the chance to do so.
    Thanks for sharing :) xx

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  30. Wow! Love your adventurous lifestyle!

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  31. Wow, what a great adventure and intersting finds! Thanks for sharing.
    In #3 I see a stonehead and a duck under it...

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  32. I am glad I didn't miss this post. Really enjoyed what you have shared on your overnight stay out in the dessert. Great experience staying overnight under the open sky, looking up at the sky full of stars.

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  33. This sounds like an amazing experience with overnight stay. Cowboy rock looks interesting. I really like the captures at night, also the selfie with shadow.

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  35. This post should be pinned to the top of your homepage. Seriously, you always reward our visits beautifully, but this was just over the top! I so appreciate a taste and a sight of this experience. Thank you very much

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  36. What a rewarding outing. I'm partial to the beautiful sunrise photos, but the evening ones of Cowboy Rock are stunning too.

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  37. That looks like a lovely place to camp and to sleep under the starry sky! I imagine you brought a lot of camping gear to spend a day in the great outdoors. Your photos are awesome!

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  38. What an adventure! I'd trouble hauling in enough to make it overnight, but I'd love it once I got there. I have such fond memories of tent camping when I was a child.

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  39. Greetings and Salutations! I did a sleep under the stars which was on my "bucket list" too. I crept outside with a blanket and pillow and walked down to the lake. I climbed into our motor boat and went to sleep after midnight. It was quiet, I could see the milk way and shooting stars and crossed my fingers and toes that a black bear would not come along and lick me on the face while I slept. Or maybe I could have been an appetizer. LOL!
    Glad you were able to mark this sleep over off your "bucket list." Yeppers things like we are going are absolutely for the young at heart but isn't life grand?

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  40. Can't see stars like that in Ohio. Great post

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  41. Amazing rock, and you find old art. Beautiful.

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