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Pictograph boulder at the Base of Queen Mountain, JTNP

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A couple of months or so ago, I decided to go out to Joshua Tree National Park and see if I could find a small pictograph site hidden in a boulder field in the backcountry. I had a good idea of where it was but you never know for sure and I would still have [...]

Pinto Wye Arrastra, JTNP

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An arrastra is a simple and primitive gold milling device. Heavy stones are dragged over gold ore to crush it. Mercury and water is added to the floor of the arrastra to create an amalgam and capture the gold. There is somewhat of a mystery about who built this arrastra and used it. There is [...]

Red Lady Pictographs, JTNP

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We visited a couple of pictograph sites in Joshua Tree. Both of these sites have red female figures in small caves. Finding pictograph sites is good enough, but there is more to these sites. On the spring equinox, the sun makes a unique appearance at each of them. At one of the sites, the “Brunette [...]

Wall Street Mill, JTNP

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The Wall Street Gold Mill is a very interesting and rare example of a complete small desert gold mill. And to boot, it is only a short walk inside the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. Once owned by prospector and rancher Bill Keys, the mill was a custom mill, meaning that it processed ore [...]

“Southern Eagle” Petroglyphs, JTNP

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The Dzrtgrls led a group of us on a trip to the southern Eagle Mountains to see an area they have been scouting around in. They have made some nice pictograph and petroglyph finds out there and we have found even more on this trip! This is an interesting and seldom visited corner of Joshua [...]

“Surprise Rock” Pictographs, JTNP

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A few days ago, I was out hiking in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park and came across this solitary boulder with petroglyphs and pictographs. They are inside of a concave, hollowed out section of a large White Tank monzogranite boulder along what could have been an ancient trail. The area was last used [...]

“Hidden Cave” Pictographs, JTNP

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Early last year, I went out in search of this well-hidden rock shelter full of pictographs. It is the most decorated cave in Joshua Tree that I have found so far. Pictographs cover the walls and ceiling of the interior cave. It was difficult to photograph them in such tight quarters. This is quite a [...]

“Ram on Rocks” Pictographs, JTNP

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Recently, I visited a very small native site in the backcountry of Joshua Tree. There is a larger habitation site not far away (which this site is named for). One thing that makes this particular site interesting for the area is the metate and manos sitting out front of the rock shelter. Next to them [...]

“Hollow Rock” Pictographs, JTNP

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Back in 2010, we came across an unassuming large isolated grantite boulder in Joshua Tree. There are no shortage of those around in Joshua Tree and there wasn’t anything immediately particularly interesting about this one either. But we did notice it was hollowed out underneath and there was a way to crawl in. Being the [...]

Alister’s Cave Pictographs, JTNP

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Alister’s Cave is a known pictograph site in the Wonderland of Rock area of Joshua Tree. The cave (really a rock shelter) is full of pictographs but they have faded over the years, mostly due to the exfoliation of the granite. They are increasingly hard to see so I tweaked the colors as best I [...]

Eagle Cliff Mine, JTNP

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Back in 2000, we decided to hunt down a small rock shelter that a prospector built into the jumbo rocks of Joshua Tree National Park. We couldn’t find this place the first time, but were successful the second time out. What a neat little hidden spot it is. If you head out there, please respect [...]
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