Monthly Archives: June 2017

Smoke Tree Wash Petroglyphs

Smoke Tree Wash winds its way through Joshua Tree National Park’s southern portion, and if most Park visitors notice it, it is usually when they start wondering who named all these washes ( “Smoke Tree”? “Porcupine”? “Fried Liver“?? ) that the Park’s main road crosses.

If you’re up for a walk you might find some petroglyphs out in the flats, so that’s just what we set off to do one winter morning. We had our choice of walking along in the bed of the wash or kicking out and walking along some ridges, which is what we did. Our hard work mostly didn’t pay off ( so many rocks out there! So many! ) but we did find traces of an old trail – maybe an old Indian trail? Maybe a mining trail? No mining activity in the area that I know of though.

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“Borderline” Petroglyphs

This is a nice little site tucked into a quiet corner with development all around. Unfortunately it hasn’t escaped unscathed, even though it is mostly intact.

Somewhere on the Volcanic Tablelands tumbled breccia cliffs lines both sides of a little canyon. On the north side of this canyon, a little above the canyon floor, there is a rock shelter that has been augmented with a low rock wall.

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