Little Lake Petroglyphs (Inyo County, California)

The primary purpose for my long drive and overnight stay in Bishop, CA was to join the California Rock Art Foundation (CRAF) on a guided tour they were offering of the Little Lake Petroglyph Site just beyond Fossil Falls along US-395. I attended a lecture series with the foundation's president, Dr. Alan Garfinkle Gold, a couple of years ago in Ridgecrest. I learned a great deal from him and the other speakers, and I was excited to be able to go into the field again with someone so knowledgeable and passionate about ancient Native American rock art.

The Little Lake site is on private property and is only accessible with the permission of the land owners. I think they try to be accommodating to research groups to demonstrate to the BLM they are good stewards of this rich archaeological site to ensure it isn't taken from them via legal means. That said though, it's still a rare opportunity to be able to visit the site and I was lucky to be able to do so.

After driving the ninety or so miles from Bishop to the site, I turned around and joined others in the group on the side of the highway. While we waited for the land-owners to come and open the gate, we got some introductions out of the way and everyone signed a legal waiver. Eventually, the gate was opened and our caravan of twenty or so cars entered the site. We drove down a dirt road to a small picnic area, where the day's schedule was covered and then we decided upon carpool arrangements. The site is pretty large, but there aren't a lot of parking spots and so it made sense to take as few cars as possible.

Jumping into one of the larger SUV's, we drove down to the southern end of the lake to what was described as one of the more extensive sites. A large cliff of columnar basalt rises out of the desert and forms a long stone wall along the eastern side of the lake. We parked near the very southern end of this wall and got out to begin exploring. Immediately, we began seeing terrific examples of both petroglyphs and pictographs. The area is covered with them. All sorts glyphs, from geometric shapes to anthropomorphs to rams to atlatls have been represented on the boulders forming this cliff.

Along with the other members in my group, we spend about an hour exploring around this area. Dr. Gold mentions that ancient fire rings were found on top of the cliff, and a couple of us decide to hike up there to see. The climb is fairly easy, but we never find any definitive signs on top. As we notice people starting to head back to the cars, we decide it would be best to come back down and rejoin the group.

I almost forgot to mention the obsidian. The ground here is strewn with chips of obsidian. Not thousands, but probably millions of little obsidian chips liter the ground in all directions for as far as you can see. Obviously, the Native Americans that lived and hunted in this area, used this area to make projectile points from the incredibly sharp glass, but to accumulate this much, it must have taken hundreds of years and many dozens of arrowhead makers. I've seen areas like this before, but nothing even close to this scale. It's amazing . . . 

The next area drive to is right along the western side of the lake. Here, a small inlet from the lake has formed a marshy little canyon. The floor of the canyon seems to still be somewhat water-covered, but with a thick blanket of grasses and other water-plants providing a surface to walk on. It feels very much like walking on a sponge. As we explore, we find a small cave with some pictographs patterns painted on it's walls. In addition, there are dozens of petroglyph panels. There are also some small frogs scattering as we walk across the grassy carpet. They're cute and I hope we don't disturb them too much.

After this site, we head back to where we parked the majority of the cars to take lunch. I pull out a clif bar and a dried blueberry and nut mix, while others pull all sorts of meals from coolers. We try our best to find shade to enjoy our meals. It's pretty hot, but some cool water brings refreshment. 

After our quick meal, we decide to explore around the corner a bit. Dr. Gold mentions more rock art back this way. That said though, I really wasn't prepared for quantity of barely visible pictographs we were about to find. First, I catch the faintest glimpse of some red coloration on one of the rocks under an overhang. Using a handy-dandy little app on my phone called Dstretch, I took a picture and started flipping through a few color filters to see if any images popped out of the stone. The app was designed specifically for this purpose and I've found a lot of success with it in the past. Today is no exception. The first images start to come alive under the various filters. 

As I explore around the area, I discover pictographs fading away on just about every vertical surface that has some level of shelter above it. Others on the trip with me, are amazed at how many are here and how visible they come with the simple app. I'm really happy I purchased this app a couple of years ago. Its really great for anyone interested in rock art.

We spend a fair amount of time finding more and more pictographs before moving on to the next area. It's a little bit of a drive, but we eventually reach the other end of the columnar basalt wall we were exploring earlier. On this northern end though, much of the basalt has collapsed into boulder piles. These boulders seem to have provided ideal canvases for the ancient artists of the area. Atlatls, bear claws, geometric patterns, and many other glyphs adorn this crumbled hillside. 

The day has escaped me and it's nearly 3:30 PM. I say my goodbyes and thank Dr. Gold for his insights and for obtaining permission for us to access the site. It's been an amazing day and I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to explore such an archaeological treasure as this. Now, I have a six or so hour drive around the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada and back up to the Bay area for a run tomorrow morning. Best hit the road.