Thursday, September 28, 2023

Surprise Rock

 On a recent hike in Joshua Tree National Park, I happened to be in the neighborhood of Surprise Rock. It's been a really long time since my last post about Surprise Rock (February of 2017... wow, where has the time gone??). Before I take you to Surprise Rock, I'll show you some of the scenery in the area. It was a beautiful day to be out hiking!
 
This was taken using my ultra wide angle (or perhaps fisheye is more accurate?) 12mm lens. It's fun to shoot with, and sometimes you can use the distortion to your advantage. The rocky overhang is greatly accentuated in this photo.
 
 
The Red Obelisk boulder is a landmark people use out here where it's easy to get turned around. It's dead center in the photo above. Below is a closer view.
 
The Freak Brothers rock formation with the three distinct summits is impossible to miss. The large Pinion Pin on the left is probably at least 20' tall, so this is a huge formation!
 
My friend P.T. on the right.
The thing about Surprise Rock is it looks like a big round boulder (in an area with thousands of big round bounders) when you hike by it. As a matter of fact, I had trouble finding it again on this hike, even though I've hiked here a number of times in the past. It's not until you push through the bushes and move around the back side of the boulder that you see it's hollowed out. Then, when you look closer, your jaw will drop!

Same photo with a little Dstretch (color enhancer).
The sheer number of pictographs (seen here in red) and etched petroglyphs (white or light color) is mind boggling! It's impossible not to ask yourself who made these? Why? What do they mean? I've accepted that we will never be able to answer these questions to any degree of certainty, but they are fascinating just the same. I will hazard an opinion, and that's all it is: Multiple people made these pictographs and petroglyphs over a very long period of time. Some look much more recent, and some are very faded and ancient-looking. Some are very high up on the rock and hard to see. Others are in a very low, dirt-level alcove. The longer you look and let your eyes adjust, the more you see. It's almost as if the ancients would travel this corridor on a regular basis, and add to it. Some of the more recent rock art is written directly over the top of older rock art.
 
An ah ha! moment during this visit to Surprise Rock: The etched-in-the-rock petroglyphs are newer than the red dye pictographs. In the photo above, you can clearly see a petroglyph that has been etched right over the top of a red pictograph. I had always assumed the petroglyphs were older, but that's not the case here.
 

 
On my first hike to this area, we came across a recent bighorn sheep kill. It was both fascinating and disturbing (if you're squeamish, you might want to skip the next couple photos)
February 2017
May 2023
Not much left now, and in a slightly different location. The skull and horns appear to be gone. In February of 2017, it was a very recent kill. I remember getting the heebie geebies thinking "Am I in a mountain lion den? With it's recent kill where in might see me as a competitor for it's food??" We made a hasty retreat!
 
Thanks for joining me on this hike. The Native American rock art in this area is fascinating!
Linking with Skywatch Friday.

46 comments:

  1. ...gorgeous images! Watch out for mountain lions, I want to go another journey with you!

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  2. That's so cool to find the ancient petroglyphs and pictographs. I see why it's called Surprise Rock!

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  3. That rock is magnificent! I love your desert rock photos as always.

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  4. Wow, lots of pictographs there. I can see how people could miss them.

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  5. Sometimes it's hard to know what's modern graffiti and what's historic writings. But it is fun to speculate.

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  6. You are right. It was a beautiful day.

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  7. Amazing photos and a spine tingling tale of a lurking mountain lion!

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  8. Those "Freak Brothers" are quite something, I almost want to say "cute"!

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  9. Whutta fantastic part of desert. I love those rocks, pictographs and your photography. That skull is probably hanging in someone´s man cave. I so would hang one in my home.

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  10. So many surprises during this hike! Love the cactus flowers. 👍

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  11. I'm missing a 12mm I'd like one like that
    Wonderful treasures you will find at

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  12. That first rock looks like a turtle to me.
    Beautiful sky-colors - and the one with the flowers!
    Freak Brothers sure made me giggle. Surprise Rock really has surprises.
    Interesting skeleton. Glad you didn´t end up as food yourself ;-)

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  13. Wonderful rocks, Amazing skies.
    Loved the post.

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  14. wonderful skies and rock formations

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  15. A fascinating post again with some great images. I'm impressed by the wonderful colours of the rock art.

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  16. Stunning photos and scenery you take of the park, when I visit a church here in the UK and see it has medieval wall art it makes me wonder about it but seeing the pictographs you really do wonder about who did it

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  17. I just had a look back at your hike here in February of 2017 (I like Valentine Rock). It's a gorgeous area. It's a nice thing to be able to go back after many years and see how things have changed over time.

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  18. Impressive photo's again. I love them.

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  19. What a fun lens to take. You did well with it. Love the petroglyphs and the area in general.

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  20. Amazing and beautiful, fantastic photos. Another excellent hike, thank you.

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  21. Thanksgiving is approaching. Soooo, I guess this is why I thought the third image was a turkey boulder. LOL! Amazing wide angle lens image! What a neat surprise ...... ! Glad you two were not appetizers for a mountain lion. By the way, your photographs always are top notch! Be safe.

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  22. Yet another adventure in one of the best places on earth! I hear y'all have had some rain recently (more, actually than we have), so it's good to see that the landscape hasn't been washed away. Keep up the good work.

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  23. No surprise that you brought us some excellent pictures. Too bad this mystery probably won’t be solved in our lifetime but you did come up with a good observation.

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  24. Your photos are always very nice! I loved to see the little cactus flower. What a striking color!
    Here where I live we have petroglyphs too of boats. They think they are 3000 years old.
    The Freak Brothers rocks was funny to see. I remember the comics.

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  25. Wow! Wonderful and awesome series of photos of the desert and sky ~ even the skeleton of the sheep ~ thanks,

    Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  26. I was reminded of some of your photos when I re-watched Holes last night. In it there is a thumb-shaped outcropping on a high point in the desert landscape.

    The blues of those skies are amazing! I'd be so excited to see the petroglyphs!

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  27. Wow, your trip to Joshua Tree National Park looks amazing! Your photos are stunning, and that small cactus flower caught my eye.

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  28. I agree with Penelope Notes. You can't tell modern graffiti from the historic writings. But it's still intriguing. Love the pink flowers against the desert backdrop.

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  29. That is amazing. I'm glad that our more contemporary artists are not tagging the rock. You just wonder what about the rock attracted so many people. I guess the climate might have been less harsh way back when.
    Fresh kills can mean trouble in certain areas like you talk about. My sister was a seasonal ranger at Yellowstone and she talked about kills there attracting wolves, bears, and other critters for miles around. Best to set up with a telescope a long ways away from it.

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  30. Such a beautiful place to explore and see new things. Your photos always make me wish I was there.

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  31. Such a great variety of rock shapes. The first one looks like the open mouth of a hippo. The glyphs are amazing. I hope that someone has catalogued them for posterity. Who knows, they may eventually crack the code.

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  32. What a fantastic landscape! Amazing photos :)

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  33. I think I would have had the heebie geebies too :)

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  34. Great post. Perhaps some ancient version of Banksy decided to imitate the earlier art form when he added the white figures.

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  35. I've always wanted to go to this park. Your photography is amazing! I can't believe all those hieroglyphs!

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  36. Such magnificent photos. We were in California this summer but it would have been too hot to go to Joshua Tree.. Will have to make our way to California again sometimes when the temps are milder.

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  37. Hike On Brother Parts - Hike On

    Cheers

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  38. For me are youre photos all surprises - one is better than the others. But the Freaky Brothers - I must laugh at this,
    greetings
    Kirsi

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  39. Everything you show us in JT is fascinating, but I agree that the pictographs and petroglyphs are like a small miracle --- your surmise about why there are so many on this one rock makes sense -- what a great thing to know about. Surprise Rock is wonderful.

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  40. https://sparepartsandpics.blogspot.com/

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  41. Sorry, my comment went wrong. What I wanted to say is: absolutely beautiful photos. Thanks for taking us on this breathtaking trip. Have a great day! Liz

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  42. Outstanding photographs.

    That first image looks like a sculpture of a dinosaur with its two front boulder-legs visible.

    That 12mm lens produced some stunning effects.

    Loved this post.

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