Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

I recently went back out to the Salt Creek area in search of the geoglyphs that eluded me the last time I was out there.  I also added a couple of other sites in the region to the list for this hike including an ancient quarry and some campsites.  All of that eluded me this time.  But I did finally track down the glyphs at least.  Or what’s left of them.  It turns out I walked right past it the last time I was out here due to its poor preservation. 

Ancient paths.



This is one part, or at least an associated work.  I hadn’t clocked it for what it was the last time I was out here due to the description in the report I read estimating the pile of gravel in the middle at 4ft.  I struggle to see how it’s shrunk to this point without human assistance.  




Deciding that must be one of the features I was looking for helped me to navigate to the others.  Data!!
Here it is.  


I don’t blame you if you can’t really make it out. 






This associated ring has withstood the test of time better.


This is why I’m out here.  Some of these amazing things are being lost to time and/or human interference. They might not be here to teach or inspire or awe as soon as next season or next year.  It wasn’t underwhelming to find such a faint glyph, just a solid reminder that nothing stands the true test of time.  


Here’s a map of the glyph to help with imagining what it used to look like. 


I also found this tiny volcano complete with erupting lava