Indian Hill Pictographs ©
March 31, 2013, Joel Hawk
(Click on pictures to enlarge)
What a fun outing...short, but sweet. It's a short walk across the desert floor (round trip of 1.6 miles) and the ground is flat, so it's pretty easy.
We went on this adventure about a week or so early. There wasn't much rain this year, so the flowers will be sparse, but just the same, they were pretty.
So were the ladies. :)
Chris dubbed this cactus the desert asparagus. Up close, it really looked like it. I got hungry.
As I said, the desert floor was pretty flat so there wasn't much of a hiking challenge other than to try and keep from getting poked in the leg.
Our destination is only .8 miles away and once there, we found this really large, overhanging rock. Naturally, being the young men Jack and I are, we had to climb around underneath it, but we asked Chris to hold it up for us just in case.
We walked around and searched for old pottery pieces and arrowheads, but did not find any here. I had found some pottery at another rock pile a few months back about 1/4 of a mile away. But, we did find some morteros and one set where we figured there was an Indian restaurant at one time.
Then we set off to find what we really came here for. This wasn't as easy as I originally thought, but with the DeFranco Explorer Team, we did succeed. I've heard these are the best pictograph collections in the County.
No one knows for sure what these mean or how old they are. And who knew these were right here in our own County? Beautiful shots from the past and truthfully, I walked right past them a few months ago without even knowing....
There are a couple drawings that look like they were added to the original collection and that's sad, but we take the good with the bad. It was a beautiful, cool spot for a snack. That done, we set off for a short walk to see what else we could discover.
There are a couple drawings that look like they were added to the original collection and that's sad, but we take the good with the bad. It was a beautiful, cool spot for a snack. That done, we set off for a short walk to see what else we could discover.
I hope you enjoy this little article. It brings a smile to me every time I see these pictures.
Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands. ~ Joel
Directions and the numbers:
Travel East on I-8 and exit at Ocotillo Wells. Drive through town and when you come to the Border Patrol checkpoint, go another 200 - 300 yards and turn left onto a jeep dirt road called Dos Cabezas. Follow this road to the train tracks and water tower. Turn right before crossing the tracks and drive past the train trestle. Park off the road where you can and then cross over the tracks on your way. You can follow the old jeep road on foot or by horse, but cannot drive on it.
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