Inscription Canyon: Petroglyphs in Death Valley
- Ron Frazelle
- Jun 30, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 2, 2019
Whether it's spending some leisure time in the water on the sunny shores of the Pacific Ocean or exploring the vast, semi-arid landscapes of the many deserts, snowboarding the snowy peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains, camping or hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, eating some great food and soaking in the urban culture of Los Angeles during the day to seeing some live entertainment in Hollywood, there is just so much to see and do in Southern California. Really, too much to list here. Living in Orange County means that it's a fairly short drive to do any of it...well, depending on traffic of course.
Recently, after buying and slightly modifying an old Jeep that we call Ol' Blue, my wife, Maria and I have been really enjoying the desert landscapes with all of the adventure and history that they have to offer. With the Mojave, Colorado and Great Basin deserts covering a little over 159 million acres, (that's roughly 25% of the surface area of the State of California kids) there is plenty to explore!
So, with adventure always looming in our immediate future, I went searching for places to visit. Following my buddy Hugh on Instagram (blue_yota_of_destruction), I got hip to an amazing spot, in the middle of the desert. The spot was called Inscription Canyon located in the Mojave Desert. This is a place where our Native American inhabitants took time to express themselves through rock art, leaving behind hundreds of petroglyphs and pictographs, with some believed to be up to 8000 years old.
The little canyon is the result of an ancient lava flow that left a perfect canvas for our ancient friends to leave some amazing artifacts. Yeah. Crazy. We love California history so we were really excited. But more on that later.
Planning
We assembled The Camp Crew; Myself, Maria, Dave, Ayshea and Louie and started planned the 2 night, three day excursion. Maria picked a base camp that we all agreed to, a State park called Red Rock Canyon State Park. Red Rock Canyon is located near the North Western side of the Mojave. It is an amazing place to visit. The campgrounds are semi-developed with a self-pay kiosk, picnic tables, fire rings and vault toilets. There are water spigots that deliver drinking water located throughout the campgrounds. It's $20 a night for two vehicles and the spots are first-come-first-served with no reservations being accepted. The campgrounds are stunning, being set up against dramatic, tall cliffs that have been carved out by centuries of wind and water erosion. It's a really bad ass spot. :)
With Ol' Blue packed for the three day, two night adventure, and the official Camp Crew assembled, we were headed to Red Rock Canyon State park. But remember, as cool as Red Rock Canyon is, the real goal of the trip was to get into Death Valley, near The Black Mountains, and see Inscription Canyon.
What to Take with You
The weather on the particular weekend we did our trip was close to perfect. We checked the weather reports ahead of time, so we knew there was no rain in the forecast, that was good...but it would be pretty damn cold at night...like, low 30's fahrenheit cold, so we brought the right cold weather gear to be comfortable. Don't forget kids, be prepared, take precautions, plan for the worst and hope for the best. And it's OK to over plan when heading in to the desert.
Like I mentioned earlier, Red Rocks Canyon State Park is a campground that is first come, first served. We weren't sure what to expect with the water situation. We wanted to pick a cool spot, we didn't want to pick a spot just because we needed to rely on a water spigot. So we brought enough water for everything we needed, found a good spot and set camp.
As a group, we were completely self-supporting. We had everything we needed. Each of the members of The Camp Crew picked a meal and, bought the food for said meal and prepared it on the time they picked. This works great, and has become the norm for our TCC trips from this point on.
The frist night was really cold (36 degrees fahrenheit). We brought a little propane powered Mr. Buddy Heater that did an "OK" job taking the chill out of the air in the tent. It was my wife, Ayshea and myself in a six man tent...so the heater had to work extra hard. Reminder, the smaller the tent...the warmer you will stay.
After the first night, with breakfast in our belly, we loaded the two Jeeps with a table, chairs, coolers and food for lunch for a day trip out to Death Valley to see Inscription Canyon. It was going to be a long drive there. There was some highway driving mixed with about 37 or so miles (one way) on jeep trails into the desert on our way to the destination....two hours there, two hours back to base camp.
The drive out through the desert was as beautiful as always. Once we rolled up on Inscription Canyon it was aweinspring. Really breathtaking. To think that people have been here and left their mark as long as 8000 years ago was barely comprehensible.
Inscription Canyon
Once we decided and committed to making Inscription Canyon our destination, I did a little research on what we were going to see. What I read was that archeologists believe that it was because of the hard quartz found in the area for making tools, mixed with the easily marked lava rock that led to an abundance of the ancient art form in this particular canyon.
There were so many things represented in the designs. We observed things like circles, various shapes, lines and zig zags. There were some that looked like shields, baskets and possibly masks as well as the obvious images of animals like desert tortoise, deer, bighorn sheep and snakes. Even some that were obviously humanoid figures...like, maybe a Shaman. There were three or four tribes that inhabited or passed through the area over the past several thousand years, like The Western Shoshone, Southern Paiute, and Kawaiisu...to name three.
We did a fair share of looking around and taking a boat load of pictures. It was such an awesome place. After we were done exploring the site, we thought the area would be a good enough place as any to stop and have some lunch. So we went back out to the Jeeps, unloaded the table and cooler, cracked a few beers, started the stove and made some lunch. The weather was perfect....sun was shining with the temperature at about 63 degrees with a slight breeze and wispy clouds in the super, blue sky. We were out in the middle of nowhere, hanging out, chatting, having hot dogs and beers where thousands of years ago, tribespeople were traveling to this very spot to leave their mark. So amazing and kick ass. Again...friends, beers, the great outdoors, the beauty of the desert, amazing California history, great friends and beers, did I say beers? I did? Oh.
Man, how fortunate we were.
To get out to Inscription Canyon we started off the 395, just South of the small city of Red Mountain at a dirt road called Hoffman Road. It was roughly an hour and a half to the Canyon once we left the pavement of the 395. If I remember right, the entire trail out there can be done with a two wheel drive vehicle with decent clearance and some all-terrain tires. Let a little pressure out of your tires for the deeper sandy sections, and you should be fine. But if you're not sure, a 4x4 or AWD vehicle would be stress free.
I've said it before...and I can't stress it enough. Over prepare, be safe, let other people know where you will be, don't travel alone, pack enough food and water...and then pack more. DO NOT underestimate the desert landscape. Be prepared.
That's it for now....see ya next time.
Venture forward, be careful and have fun!
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