Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

And now for another virtually invisible Rock Alignment!  One has to wonder how much humanity or climate has degraded these structures in the 70yrs since they were surveyed, or were they barely perceptible back then?  

The only way I've found that I can track down rock alignments out here is to have as many points of interest as possible.  (That or sheer dumb luck).  Which is extra hard with the changing landscape, more accurate elevation equipment, better topo maps, and honestly the sheer number of typos I have been finding in scientific papers.  I have 3 confirmed typo or mis-documented map sectors.  This time the biggest problem was part of designed navigation hinged on finding a fence line and navigating from that.  Only to find that there was no fence anywhere in sight.  Grrrr.

So I gave up and headed back to my truck amongst thickening rain drops.  Only to get angry with myself part of the way and turn around.  I would do that 3 whole times.  I think a record for me.  Lol.  

I finally found a single broken off fence post.  Figuring that it could only have come down the wash (I was grasping at straws at this point but I could at least remember that "gravity, it's not just a good idea, it's the law").  I grid searched the wash until I found some barbed wire.  I knew the cardinal direction the fence used to go and it had definitely been twisted up & dragged by the 70yrs of floods.  Eventually it led to a bench where it seemed to be caught in its more or less original position, although no fence posts remained.  Finally found the next clue in my search, a group of cleared circles.  But still no alignment apparent.  Then I found marker 3, an ancient pathway.  Still can't find the ^&*^$# alignment.  Finally, at just the right angle, i could pick up parts of it.  See if anything is visible in the photos.









Not the most exciting photos.  Lol.  Sorry.  Overcast and not much contrast in the rocks.  It's essentially just two lines sort of sinuously intertwining and a few cleared circles.  As per usual, I found quite a lot of cairns and rock piles in the area.  Which are bloody everywhere once you start looking.  At least I can check this one off my list now.