Weekend of mischief in DV

[Daymoth]

Oh feel free to detail.

WHAT????? Not even take a report?

(I cant agree more with you on wishing they let Scotty's Castle alone and spent the money on the actual park)

[DAW89446]

A friend of mine and I were once exploring a mine adit only by the light of our camera flashes (we had forgotten them and left them in my truck a quarter mile away). The mine was not in DVNP but fairly close to Eureka Valley. As I was stumbling in the darkness I reached out to steady myself and felt - not cold rock - but something warm and fuzzy.

[Daymoth]

Oh man did you spook the poor thing or it just continued snoozin?
,.........

The rest of our day was doing touristy stuff we hadnt done before.

The Wildrose kilns were so much bigger than I imagined them. We danced inside to the insane echo.

Aguereberry point was beautiful but all I could think about is how terrifiying the scramble John Morrow did down and up Terracoccus looks.

We then explored some random small prospect holes to end the day with some misdemeanors. 

Found a nest on some shoring timber



Somebodies lair, with excrement and the remains of two dinners.


And made a friend. This was lower elevation and warm and friend was awake and welcoming, getting ready to go catch some dinner. 

[DAW89446]

Oh man did you spook the poor thing or it just continued snoozin?

I don't recall any movement. I just checked my research and field trip notes and only noted that I put my hand on it, felt it, and that it was about 60 feet inside the adit.

[Daymoth]

On our first day we met a desert rat gentleman on our same trailhead heading up certain benchmark on the black mountains. Was it any of you by any chance?

Having been up there twice now I shared my beta. In exchange he shared with me some petroglyph locations and gave me his map he used the day before.

OH BOY OH BOY FINALLY MY FIRST DEATH VALLEY GLYPHS.

So all my other half day options were bumped into the "next time" category and this mans map went to the top of the to do list. 
We half half a day to explore before the long boring drive home so off we went.

Well you all know this place. Its no secret. Its well documented. Yet I didnt know about it, I didnt know it was possible to find these without a 4x4, and it was super exciting and special to me and I loved it and I cant wait to find more.


All interpretations here are entirely my wild imagination and not an attempt to trump or define any actual Shoshone meanings. 

A sheep, a spring, a shaman and a medicine wheel.



This was one of my favourite. A huge map!!! I wish I could descipher it, I think the circles are springs and the lines are trails. If anyone has desciphered it i would love to know.



Counting something? There is something in the center I cant see well.


Beware the are snakes in the spring. 



This one I cant barely make out. 


Cant see this one either



There where more inscriptions both historic and prehistoric.

What a delight. Thankyou sir for sharing this special place. 

Back home. Now start planing our next trip. Im studying roads. (If anyone has explored Gold Butte in an SUV I would love some intel).

[Beardilocks]

3rd from the top at left: usually interpreted as rain.
2nd from the bottom is obviously Appa the flying bison from Avatar the Last Air Bender series.

I’ve been into Gold Butte 3-4x. Feel free to PM or email me.

[Daymoth]

2nd from the bottom is obviously Appa the flying bison from Avatar the Last Air Bender series.

I’ve been into Gold Butte 3-4x.  Feel free to PM or email me.

Well now that I see the flying byson it I cant unsee it. 

Thanks! Im scouring the interwebs to get at least some situational awareness of where things are and ill hit you up with questions! 
Will probably end up in utah again. DV gets too hot in march for us.

[Beardilocks]

Maybe not this March the way things are going. Sheesh. I’m freezing.

Gold Butte has a lot to offer.

Soooooo much to see in UT. I did San Raphael swell in … well basically all of Oct last year. Lol. Endless stuff there. I can also recommend Comb Wash (although they just added a day use fee for parts ugh), vermillion cliffs… really there’s so much.

[ski3pin]

Daymoth, a good source of information for Gold Butte is Jim Boone's website, birdandhike.com

[Brice]

Oh feel free to detail.

WHAT????? Not even take a report?

(I cant agree more with you on wishing they let Scotty's Castle alone and spent the money on the actual park)

Ok, here are the deets...

I'm camping in DV wilderness study area 17, at the south end of the park to ride out this storm front.  I start hearing a lot of shooting and wonder if recreational shooting is allowed in wilderness areas.  Beardilocks alerted me to a nearby cabin where he suspected they were located.  I grabbed my spy binoculars and went on a covert operation.  I scurried up a nearby hill and sure enough that's where they were.



ENHANCE!



I was asking a lot of my busted old camera phone to get this photo.  Two jeeps, one pickup, 6 dirt bikes, and about 10 people firing away at a hillside in my general direction.  I didn't stay up there long.

Anyway, it took several phone calls to various numbers, both BLM and NPS to finally get a hold of someone in NPS death valley.  They said they'd alert a ranger but that it's outside the park bounday and generally seemed unconcerned.  I also left a message with the California BLM resources crime number and haven't heard back.  No surprise there.