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<\/a>The larger boulder lovingly protects a smaller boulder tucked in tightly below it. You can see some pictographs on the overhang – a nice squiggle line, and some additional elements behind the boulder.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looking down and in towards the smaller boulder. The darker areas are nice little piles of … something icky. Packrat poop I think. The opening under the smaller boulder is less than a foot high.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>There are some interesting-looking elements under the overhang but unfortunately I think the panel is incomplete thanks to a lot of exfoliation.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>I think the solid red element that now looks like circles actually exfoliated ( notice the lighter areas ) and what we see now is only a small part of the original pictographs. To the right there are some indistinct lines that look like they may have been a zig-zag net type pictograph. Looking at those circles to the left, I wonder if they were a pair of anthropomorphs. There’s some lines below then that looks like they might be legs or arms.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>That is a very tight squeeze! I peer over the boulder at the pictographs behind them. The wide angle lens flattened out the little poop towers I had to look over. The gap below the boulder visible in the previous picture was too small to squeeze through.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>My companion investigates the crack on the far side of the boulder as a possible entry point while I gingerly stick a camera in over the boulder to try and photograph the pictographs you saw in the background in the previous picture. As I do this, he takes this picture through the narrow gap between the two boulders. That is my snub-nosed wide-angle lens, and I literally only have room for the camera in the gap – the whole camera is less than a foot deep from the hood to the back of the camera, and I’ve got very little room to spare between the rocks here, to give an idea of how cramped this is. The dark shape in the lower left of this picture is the boulder. Not going to get any pictures this way! I pulled the camera back carefully.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Since I had no luck trying to take pictures over the top of the small boulder, the only thing left to do is to try this little gap. It is about eight inches wide at the bottom and I’m rather more than eight inches wide in the bottom, so I devise a plan – I can kind of kneel down and go in feet first with my butt in the air so my body can fit through the wider part of the gap and my hands and feet can shuffle through the narrow part. This picture, taken from close to the ground. makes it look nice and roomy – it really wasn’t!<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Oh yeah, we’re looking for pictographs, right? Here’s some DStretch to show of the delicate little elements we’re trying to see up close. The squiggle element on the low ceiling is also visible.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>I wriggled into the gap and carefully turned around to sit down. Right by the entrance is a small overhang, just above the elements we saw in the background before. By holding the camera down by the ground and folding my legs out of the way, I take some pictures. Here is a nice one looking up into the alcove.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>A closer look at just the elements in the alcove. The pigment is still nice and dark.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looks like there’s also a faint circle here, and a faint line in the upper part of the alcove.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The elements just below. It kind of looks like partial handprints, doesn’t it? These elements are really, really small though – only a couple inches tall.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Here’s DStretch. You can see the faint circle above, and the lines below. Though they look like partial handprints at first glance I think they may be painted lines.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Those are not the only elements in these tight quarters. I can’t quite get my leg out of the way this time, but this fisheye wide angle gives an idea of where we’ll be looking next.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Yes, some more lines over to the right. These are the pictographs you saw in the pictures peering into this tiny space from over the smaller boulder.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>These pictographs are also tiny, precisely drawn lines. I seldom see pictographs this delicate. Note the little crack running down the lower center of the picture – hopefully it doesn’t grow any more and this panel can hang on for a long time.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Some really delicate little lines, drawn in a purplish pigment. The 4-shaped figure is drawn in a brighter red.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Another look at those little lines. I took all these pictures blindly, holding the camera inches off the ground next to my butt while I squished my legs to one side. This shelter is so cramped! That, along with the tiny nature of the pictographs, make me wonder whether these were painted by children, or maybe adolescents.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The same picture with DStretch. Looks like those lines are more heavily pigmented at the bottom.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Finally, a picture taken with the camera held above my head while I sat down. This will give us a better look at the elements above that “4”.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>They look pretty abstract to me.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>After wriggling back out I remember I haven’t taken a good picture of the squiggle line yet, so I do.<\/p><\/div>\n