Cave of the White Orbs

I'm on something of a roll with regard to finding (well, mostly being told about) remote and seldom-seen rock art sites and Native American shelters. On my last post I shared a site I stumbled across (I called it Children's Shelter pictographs) while in search of some nearby sites. So today, let me take you to one of the sites I was actually looking for!

I had seen photos of pictographs from this site that were very unique and unusual, and I had a pretty good idea of the approximate location. Of course, that doesn't mean you will actually find it once you go looking, but I got very lucky on this hike.

Looking for one particular boulder with some faded rock art is like finding a needle in a haystack. But half the fun is in the search!

A little local color on the hike in.

And a little local texture.

Gotta be around here somewhere!

Could this be it? Looks like there's a very small, tight crawl space under this rock (hiking stick for perspective). Seriously, you expect me to crawl in there??! Well, let me at least see if I can stick my head in there and take a look.

Well, what the heck. Once down on my belly looking in, I figured I might as well go all the way. It is in fact a hollowed-out boulder on the underside, but not as spacious as it looks. The wide angle lens makes it look bigger. If you don't like crawling on your belly, or have an aversion to tight, dark areas, you may want to avoid this site! By the way, look very closely and you might spot a pictograph on the top, left of center, of the photo.

With Dstretch to highlight the picto, you can't miss it.

Thankfully, there is a second opening (above) that makes crawling under this rock feel a little less confining. Still, it's a tight, dark area and really glad I brought a light with me so I could better check things out and take some photos.

Very interesting pictos. One thing that stands out to me is the two colors used (white and red). Looks like the white coloring kind of highlights or reinforces the red symbols. What those symbols mean is anyone's guess!

Nearby, I can make out a faint red picto on the ceiling of this hollow rock. Keep in mind I'm now flat on my back, holding a heavy camera in one hand and a light in the other. I'm sure it would have made for a very comical photo! Anyway, let's use Dstretch to see if we can't get a little more detail on the picto.

Wow!! This is a great example of how Dstretch will make visible details that you would have totally missed.

I've never seen any pictos quite like these. With a little imagination, I can see a magic wand, a popsicle, a baseball, a telephone, and a space ship! And then it occurs to me, may be I've been under this rock a little too long!

But the above two photos are the "money" slides!! Wow, really unusual, and these white orbs are what the site is named after. Interesting how two of the orbs are solid white, and two are hollow with red circles. It's been conjectured that this picto is representative of female, and perhaps has something to do with a female puberty ceremony.

It's time to see if my sore, stiff body can crawl out from under this rock. I look at the ground and notice my car keys have fallen out of my pocket and are lying in the dirt. Right next to my reading glasses, that were hanging from my shirt pocket. I can do without the glasses, but I need those car keys to drive home. And without cell service in Joshua Tree National Park, you don't want to lose your keys!!

Ah, so nice to be standing upright again, with the sun setting on the horizon. I'll share a couple more photos from my hike back to the car (with my car keys securely in my pocket!).

Ouch!! Looks like an uncomfortable perch to me.

Thanks for joining me on my latest adventure!!

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Children's Shelter Pictographs

I was hoping to hike to an obscure location called "Hidden Handprints Cave", but I ran out of time. By the time I was on the road, it was already 2 PM and things would be too rushed. I also didn't want to risk hiking off-trail through the Wonderland of Rocks after sunset. That sounds like a recipe for disaster! Then I recalled my virtual friend, D.L., had just recently shared some spots that weren't too far off-trail. D.L. has been extremely generous sharing some of the all-time best sites in all of Joshua Tree with me. Not only are they incredible sites, but they are also sites that are virtually unknown. So off I go to see if I can find these rock art sites. I had GPS coordinates, but keep in mind they aren't all that accurate. When you're exploring a field of huge boulders, even being off by 50' or so can make it a real challenge to find a hidden site.

This gives you a feel for the hike in, although this photo was taken nowhere near the actual site we're going to. I trust all of my regular readers... it's those anonymous folks I'm not so sure about!!

Weird split boulder with a rocky divider in the middle! There are boulders like this all over, with lots of little (and some not so little) nooks and crannies that could be potential shelters. That's why it's so hard to find things out here, even with GPS coordinates.

A closer view...

Cha-ching!!!! After hiking a little over two miles, I find this rocky overhang with some obvious pictographs. See them?

Here's the same photo using Dstretch to enhance the pictos. This would actually be a cool little shelter. It's got a nice rock overhang and shade from a nearby tree, but this big boulder right in the middle kind of spoils things. Below are some close-up shots of the pictos.

Really interesting pictos, and quite well preserved. As I'm taking these photos and looking more closely, I notice some pictos back behind the big boulder. That's weird. There's only a few inches between the boulder and the overhang. How in the heck were those pictos made behind the rock!!?

As I move over to the left side of the boulder, I notice the smallest of openings... may be about 15" or so. Let's stick our head in there and see what's inside.

Do you see them? Look carefully. As I looked inside, I was amazed to see tiny little hand prints along a ledge of rock. Or maybe finger prints is more accurate, as much of the palm is not captured in the print. Below is a Dstretch version of the photo to show you the finger prints a little more clearly.

There they are! They look just about the size my 7 year old granddaughter Lilly would make. May be even a little smaller. OK, so if you spotted the finger prints in the first photo, you're the winner! Your prize should be coming to you in the mail any day now!! 😉

My next activity might fall into the knucklehead category, but I'm going to attempt to squirm into that very small space between the rock and the larger overhang to access this mini-shelter and get a better photo of the finger prints. I'm having visions in my mind of hikers finding my bleached bones months from now, after wedging myself so tightly between the boulders that I get hopelessly stuck!

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and I lived to hike another day. These sure look like a child's partial hand prints to me, with just a little of the upper palm. And let me tell you that no adult in their right mind would want to squirm into this mini-shelter, but it would be perfect for a couple of small children. I did learn (big surprise) that I'm not as slim as I use to be, and I'm sure not as flexible as I used to be!

So I'm calling this "Children's Shelter" pictograph site. Pretty cool, don't you think?

After squirming my way back out, it was definitely time for a break and time to check my GPS waypoints. I was fully expecting to be right on top of one of the spots D.L. shared with me. To my surprise, I was still about 100 yards away from the closest location... which means this spot was independent of the locations D.L. shared with me! Very cool, and fun to think I'm likely one of very few who have seen this site. After checking with D.L., he didn't recall the site, which makes it all the more fun to find.

No significance... other than I like the texture and color of the wood!

I went on from the Children's Shelter to find three sites that D.L. shared with me. Those will have to wait for a future post, but they are some of the best I've seen. Very much looking forward to sharing them with you.

By the time I was hiking home, the sun had set and it was getting quite dark. This little bird kept going from Joshua tree to Joshua tree just ahead of me, as if to guide me home. But it was only a relatively short distance back to the trail, and I knew I could follow the tail even at night if necessary. But so glad I had decided against the more complex, off-trail hike through the Wonderland.

Hiking home by the light of the desert moon.

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Thanks for stopping by!!

Shadow Arch

The Santa Ana winds, sometimes called the Diablo winds, are still raging in California, and we are still battling wildfires. When the Santa Ana's blow, Raymond Chandler famously wrote "every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks." Yikes!! I don't think anyone ever thought we could have a wildfire year as bad as last year, but now we're not so sure. And yes, everyone is on edge. As the helicopters were flying overhead during the World Series game last night, fighting a fire only about two miles from our house, I wondered if we should start packing in case of mandatory evacuations. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, and the fire has been contained. My granddaughter (and also our chihuahua) were frighted by the loud helicopters overhead... going back and forth over our house to drop water on the fire. She said "Papa, I don't like wind any more." I think that about sums it up.


But on to happier thoughts, and a trip out to the desert. I posted some photos recently of the Milky Way over Shadow Arch. That was my second hike out to Shadow Arch, and it made me wonder about my first hike (back in 11/2018) and what photos I posted. Guess what? There is no post!! Somehow all the photos from that hike slipped through the cracks, and that was a great hike with a ton of photos. Sooooooo... here's some photos from that first hike, when I initially "discovered" Shadow Arch.

I started my hike here. People who have been hiking this area a long time can tell you stories about when they used to drive this road to the base of the Coxcomb Mountains (in the background) to hike up to the peaks. At some point, it became designated wilderness area, which means there can be no roads, no trails, no motorized vehicles of any kind. Basically, there should be no trace of human impact, unless from long ago. And that's why I love this area. No one out here, and I usually don't even see footprints. You feel like you are seeing everything for the first time!

My first view of Shadow Arch. This is looking to the south. I was just so happy to find this arch. I spotted a round shadow on Google Maps and figured there had to be an arch here (hence the name).

The above three photos are shots of the arch from the other side (looking north). The Sheephole Mountains make a nice backdrop.

This area is full of interesting alcoves. Look at the large one in the middle of the photo above. I didn't climb down to it because it looked like it would be impossible to climb up to, and I still have a lot of ground to cover on this hike. Keep repeating... mustn't get sidetracked, mustn't get sidetracked....

Unusual rock formations.

This alcove looks cool. Ya, I got sidetracked, but just briefly. I wasn't able to climb up from below, but I could drop down from the top. Let's see what it looks like from the inside.

Nice!! Deep and spacious with a small port hole on one side. No signs of rock art or habitation, but I'm always looking!

Reminds me of a stick ball game... hit the ball in the hole, except the "ball" is at least 3' in diameter and probably over 1000 lbs!

Fast forward to the end of my hike (I'll come back to some of the other photos on a future post). The sun has set and the sky is showing those beautiful desert colors...

And just for comparison, below is Shadow Arch at night, under the Milky Way. You might remember this shot from a few weeks ago.

And finally, the hike back to the car. Getting dark, but I've hiked this area enough that I'm not worried about getting turned around.

If you look really really hard, you might notice a small dot of light just below the horizon. That's a car headlight on a lonesome stretch of Highway 62.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you celebrate it, 
have a Happy Halloween!!