Category Archives: California

Auf Wiedersehen Part 2

January 1-2, 2022
Part 2 of a rock art road trip, spending eight days and seven nights driving 1,870 miles through Utah, Nevada, and California.

Chris and I got a late start on Saturday but our first planned stop wasn’t very far away. We visited the Shooting Gallery petroglyphs in the Pahranagat Range, which was our only hike of the day because we wanted to move on to warmer climes in California and had a lot of driving to do later. Once again I used Google Maps to route and while it wasn’t bad as the last time, the route was much longer than it should have been. We were breaking trail in snow that was several days old, and it briefly led us up the wrong road. About a mile before reaching the parking area we reached a better road that had seen a lot of traffic since the last snowfall, and we’d end up taking that one back to the highway later.

Badger Valley
Badger Valley
Wrong turn on a scenic road
Wrong turn on a scenic road


The rock art at the Shooting Gallery was a little more spread out than most of the other sites we’d visited and we spent a couple of hours hiking around. I know we missed at least one good petroglyph panel that I’d seen photos of but the stuff we did find was decent.

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs

East Pahranagat Range
East Pahranagat Range

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs with red pigment
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs with red pigment

Shooting Gallery pictographs
Shooting Gallery pictographs

Lone sheep petroglyph
Lone sheep petroglyph

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs at ground level
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs at ground level

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs

Shooting Gallery petroglyphs
Shooting Gallery petroglyphs


We stopped briefly in Rachel, then again in Tonopah to resupply. We camped in a gravel pit south of town near Klondike and ate fried potatoes and smoked sausage for dinner.

Extraterrestrial Highway sign
Extraterrestrial Highway sign

Rachel, Nevada
Rachel, Nevada

Potatoes and sausage with onions and peppers
Potatoes and sausage with onions and peppers


After a much earlier start than the previous day we stopped in Goldfield to see the International Car Forest.

Someone might get killed
Someone might get killed

He survived!
He survived!

Cowboy silhouette
Cowboy silhouette

International Car Forest
International Car Forest

Skerw
Skerw

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Gorilla? Squatch?
Gorilla? Squatch?

Driving the short bus
Driving the short bus

Nevada
Nevada

Indecline
Indecline


After a couple more hours of driving we passed through Bishop, California, and visited three more rock art sites. First up was Red Rock Canyon where hiked about two miles, wandering through the boulders looking for petroglyphs.

Entering California on Highway 266
Entering California on Highway 266

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs
Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs
Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs
Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs
Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs
Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs


Next was the Yellowjacket site, where many of the panels were high on a ridge facing west. I couldn’t help but frame a lot of my photos with those beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background!

Yellowjacket petroglyphs
Yellowjacket petroglyphs

Yellowjacket petroglyphs
Yellowjacket petroglyphs

Yellowjacket petroglyphs
Yellowjacket petroglyphs

Yellowjacket petroglyphs
Yellowjacket petroglyphs

Yellowjacket petroglyphs
Yellowjacket petroglyphs


Lastly we visited the Chalfant petroglyphs. They were quite different from the others in the area, with very large circle motifs and long, slender figures with long ears and noses.

Chalfant petroglyphs
Chalfant petroglyphs

Chalfant petroglyphs
Chalfant petroglyphs

Chalfant petroglyphs
Chalfant petroglyphs

Chalfant petroglyphs
Chalfant petroglyphs

Chalfant petroglyphs
Chalfant petroglyphs


The sun set on us so we started looking for a place to camp. We found a not-so-great site right on the side of a road on a ridge above Fish Slough, but we had cell service and a nice view of the mountain range. For dinner I made a dish that my dad used to make. It was the only thing he knew how to cook (my mom did all the cooking when I was a kid), consisting of ground beef, onions, celery, and a can of pork and beans. It was finally warm enough that I felt like sleeping in my cot that night, the first time of the trip.

White Mountain Peak viewed from camp
White Mountain Peak viewed from camp

Camp on the side of a road
Camp on the side of a road

Chalfant Valley sunset
Chalfant Valley sunset

Pork and beans, ground beef, onions, and celery
Pork and beans, ground beef, onions, and celery

Photo Gallery: Auf Wiedersehen Part 2