Down Through the Desert……
This weekend was an interesting trip. I have tried on two different occasions to make the tour of the Little Petroglyph Canyon that is sponsored by the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, California. I got bumped twice. Once, because the Navy canceled the tour and the second was due to weather. They were expecting tempuratures in excess of 120 F. This weekend was my lucky weekend. The weather was great and the Navy wasn’t blowing stuff up.
I left Bishop with plans to stop off and check out Fossil Falls and then proceed to Ridgecrest. All I can say about Fossil Falls is……I will definitly return. When I arrived at Fossil Falls it was just past mid day and the light was really harsh. So I hiked around the canyon and scouted the area. This is an area that would best be photographed in a subdued light situation because of the reflections from the basaltic rock that is worn smooth by water erosion. So I figured that as soon as we get some really nice overcast or stormy days I will return.
After arriving in Ridgecrest I checked into my motel room. It was a little after 3:oo p.m. I figured that I had at least another 1 1/2 to two hours of light left so I headed east to the Trona Pinnacles. These formations are “tufas” like the ones found at Mono Lake. Only much bigger and in a dry lake basin. This was well worth the drive as they are really spectacular. I imagine that with some stormy weather this area would be great to photograph. I will be watching the weather for this area this winter.
Sunday morning was the start of the tour. I won’t go into all of the details of what goes into the tour but it entails a very thorough search of your vehicle and all the contents by a well trained security team. The reason for this is that the Little Petroglyph Canyon is on the China Lake Naval Weapons Station. Because this area has been under the control of the Navy since World War II access has been very restricted. Consequently there is very little vandalism to the rock art. It is too bad that we can’t restrict the rest of the sites in this country in the same manner.
The canyon is really incredible. Over a mile long it is lined with basaltic rock. This was the canvas for the early native Americans. And did they ever use it. There are over 6000 petroglyphs in this one canyon. Date estimates are that some are over 10,000 years old. If you are the least bit interested in primitive art or archeology in general, I would recommend this tour. It is very well organised and the tour guides are first rate. Contact the Maturango Museum for information.
I really do love exploring this part of the country. There is always something new and fascinating around ever corner.
