Dry Lake (Pah Rah) Petroglyphs

Dry Lake (Pah Rah) Petroglyphs

Page Type Page Type: Trip Report
Additional Information GPX File: Download GPX » View Route on Map
Date Date Climbed/Hiked: Apr 1, 2013
Activities Activities: Hiking
Seasons Season: Spring

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First off, I have to tell you it sucks to hike in crappy steel toe work boots, especially when it is through a boulder field and up scree. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. It had sprinkled on and off all day. The sky was cloudy and the sun was peaking through when it could. The air brisk and slightly windy. I set off in the late afternoon, around 4. First, across a boulder strewn dry lake bed and then up a steep scree covered climb to the ridge. Unbeknownst to me I had missed my mark and I wandered around finding only 2 petroglyphs in the Great Basin curvelinear style. However, I knew this wasn't what I was looking for. So I continued to search. Back tracking frequently and becoming frustrated. Finally, I started to head back to the car, defeated. Armed with one picture to locate my query I rechecked the image. To my dismay the further I walked back to the car the more things began to line up. Rejuvenated I moved away from the hill and back towards my parked car until I stumbled on the petroglyphs. The sun was getting low but every rock I came upon had another treasure to view. This site has more zoomorphic and what appears to be anthropomorphic images then I've seen at any other site, along with many in the curvelinear style too. As the sun began to set I returned to the car to start my journey home. However, I has left with one question. How did the ancient Native Americans decide where was a suitable place for rock art? There was many outcrops of volcanic rock (mafic, basalt? maybe andesite) that had flowed from the earth probably millions of years ago. So why did ancient people choose that outcrop over the others?



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