Death Valley

A quick trip here to another undisclosed location.   There are three distinct habitation sites (not all shown here) and another small shelter, the later being adorned with several generations of beautiful pictographs. It appears this area was used seasonally for a long time.  To my knowledge it has not been excavated. 

Slab-lined fire pit.  


Well used Metate.   I’m curious about the stippling on the surface and in the bowl. What that a technique to make grinding certain things easier?  I’ve seen my fair share of smooth ones, but not many textured like this.  Perhaps there’s another reason. 


Here’s a flat stone chipped in a similar way.  On its own I would have thought it was used to practice chipping or tool making for creating petroglyphs.  But together with the metate I'm unsure.  



Wall and shelter area 



A few near by petroglyphs. 



This pattern is similar to flat stone on the ground.  Coincidence?  Is there a story being told here that was practiced on the flat stone? Or just random doodling in both cases? This one seems to be two ages (patination change) and looks like various types of weather?

Pictograph shelter:

It’s interesting to try to pick apart this site at least a little bit.  The black drawings are very very carefully fine and seem to use some kind of a brush or more likely a sharpened tool (like a charcoal pencil) to create the very small, very detailed designed.  They also included what appear to be horses, dating them post-contact.  In contrast the red pigmented drawing appear almost universally on top of the black, often completely obscuring what was there, and done in a more heavy handed style.  It’s interesting to ponder over whether there was a particular reason for this.  Hiding secrets?  Breaking the old magic?  Personal disagreement?  Different group moving in and wiping out the old?  Curious. 

Three Horses.  And possibly a rocket ship?





This little guy is my favorite.  He’s only a couple inches tall!  He is almost exactly the same as many many alien/shaman figures I’ve seen across UT (but especially in San Raphael Swell). Square head, antenna, long fingers, lacking the usually every-present large phallus.  I’ve never seen this figure this far west.  But I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes out now!



Now this figure I have seen in DV.  In one of my earlier posts he’s seen as a large petroglyphs in a different part of the park.  He’s also seen UT at the Wolfman panel and several other places.  Arms wide, large claws, shorter legs.


Seems like several styles here in black. 


Here are the ones with red heavily applied over the black.  I tried a few in DStretch to see what I could see.  DStretch works much better to make the reds more distinguishable than the blacks, so it’s not much help for pulling the covered images out.  Great for making the red designs pop though!

Little star dude and rocket. I love it

Loving your images. If only I could rent a time machine instead of a Farabee's Jeep next trip out to DEVA as means of experiencing first hand life at these indigenous habitations.

The next day was a pre-dawn start for a rather meaty hike that would take most of the day.  And, for once, at a very disclosed location!  I’ll even provide a map.  Lol.  

First, a quick summit of Shoreline Butte for good measure (didn’t take any photos, pretty self explanatory).  Then a drop off the West side of the Butte and a hike across the fan to… an unnamed canyon.  According to our resident map keeper and knowledge guru (Kauri), we have no previous documentation of a hike up this canyon.  We certainly saw no sign of visitation up it at all, neither modern or ancient (no mine prospects or apparent Native American markings).  It was wild and beautiful and extremely varied as you went, with short sections of narrows, boulder jams to scramble, a couple short dryfalls, blue/green/red/purple/orange geology, and best of all: a really smooth decomposed granite surface to walk up!  

We have not chosen an informal name for it yet.  

Northern tip of the Owlsheads between Talc Canyon and Slickensides Canyon.  





Lots of caves big enough for habitation. But we didn’t have the energy or the gear to explore them.  






























At the head of the eastern fork was this violently orange decomposing granite (feldspar) that made a gorgeous grotto. 




Many attempts were made to reach the upper grotto that ended up being too dangerous.  


Until I found a way to squeeze through a boulder jam in a dry fall on the north side. 




Then we bypassed a dry fall to join one of the middle forks of the canyon.  Only to have to bypass another few dryfalls…


Eventually up onto a ridge line and down into another fork to the west. 




Eventually into another section of gorgeous orange decomposing granite. 










We followed this fork back down to the main canyon.  There were several dryfalls to bypass but all easy.  And then a long beautiful walk out.  It’s really a fantastic canyon with a bit of everything.  And a cacophony of color.  And did I mention the easy walking surface?  Haha.  

All in all it was a long day with Shoreline Butte included (around 15.5mi and 2800ft of elevation). I think hiking the canyon & it’s forks alone would be much more manageable.  Maybe around 13-14mi. Still a long day but a very easy walk for most of it with just enough obstacles to keep it fun.

Loving your images and reports bringing the light of life to Death Valley!

I'm just jealous that he gets to spend this much time in the park just wandering around ... 

It was a nice hike.  I think my favorite thing about the canyon is how it had several distinct areas.  There was always something new around the next corner.

Caves, then big boulders, then colorful conglomerate rocks, then blue-grey and green formations way up on the ridge, then red Utah-esque formations and big granite outcrops.

Motley canyon?

(2023-01-27, 01:44 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm just jealous that he gets to spend this much time in the park just wandering around ... 

No kidding. I was going to ask Beardilocks when he had to leave, but I'm afraid I'd jinx it. I don't to give up my most-morning dose of vicarious exploring. Maybe he'll never leave?

That canyon is a stunning find. I really like the red parts. Well done. As you say, that area probably gets little visitation.

About your 12th pic (not counting the map) there is a short vertical pour off with some discoloration, maybe even damp?, in the center. Did you climb that or go around? Trying to figure out my chances of getting into the read parts and my knees don't bend enough to do climbs which others find not so bad.

You also had great light. The sun really brings out the reds nicely. Great photos!