Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

As I was leaving the general area, I stopped at one of my favorite canyons in the Park.  Some of you will recognize it, but let's keep that to ourselves.  There were several sets of tracks visible as I went out there and that entered the canyon.  That's a bit alarming to me just because the canyon is so incredibly sensitive.  There are quite a few places to see petroglyphs in the park but the problem with this location is that they are EVERYWHERE making it extremely difficult to not walk, climb, or touch the glyphs, which will much more quickly wipe out something that is already so ephemeral.  This is a very special place to the native peoples and we should respect it as such.

Every time I come here I see more & more stuff.  I'm certain that there are more glyphs in the canyon than square feet of canyon wall.  The lighting on any given day will highlight or obscure scores of glyphs, so it's always a slightly different experience.  This time I was on the lookout for the ghost glyphs, the older glyphs that no longer show the contrast of the more recently pecked glyphs.  

The glyphs start before you even enter the canyon.  


A splash of color.


Interesting that this sheep is upside-down.  Not typical in DV.  I have read that an upside-down animal/person/anthropomorph meant that they were dead. 


Potentially a moccasin on the rock face on the right.


One thing I noticed this time that completely escaped me the last time was the application of pigment in places.  In some places it seemed like just a smear or almost just a highlight.  But very hard to see in the main.




Here are some much older ones that are harder to decipher along with a few newer ones.


This one especially interests me.  Not only would have to wedge yourself in this chute to carve it, but it is on top of at least 2 additional layers of older and older glyphs.




This line went up out of sight with various flourishes and patterns along it.


This cacophony of carving is too abstract for me to make much out of it.


Glyphs everywhere.


Here are some extremely ancient glyphs.  Impossible to make out what they really are.


3D glyphs in a pocket halfway up a dryfall.


Part 3 of a 3 part climb to the grotto.  Actually a fairly challenging climb.  Especially when you're trying to avoid the nasty water.


The Grotto.


More pictographs that I had missed on my previous visit.

Bit of DStretch love.


Another section.




Every inch of the grotto is covered.






One thing I hadn't noticed the last time:  There is a petroglyph line that encircles the entire grotto.  I've seen this theme in other places, but never in the round like this.  Very cool.












Very much more interesting with DStretch.


A few more DStretch enhanced pics from the north wall of the grotto showing some of the pigment still there.






This guy was really cool.  About 15ft off the ground and hard to get to to carve.  I can't really see what his head is.  I'm guessing it's a shaman zoomorph with some kind of animal head.


Heading out.






This one caught my eye because the light was just right.  Obviously a much much older one with some relatively newer ones nearby.