So the last entry before my laptop deserted me was Joshua Tree... from there we left California behind and headed East into Arizona. A brief stop on my favorite road outside Quartzite yielded
some belly crawlers... tiny wildflowers you need to crawl on your belly to see. It also yielded some cholla spines in my belly which weren't nearly as nice as the flowers I found. The Ocotillo weren't blooming but they showed the results of the recent rains by sporting their ovate leaves.
After careful extraction of the cholla spines we attempted
to bee-line to Saguaro National Park and of course got side tracked along the way. We found the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site which boasts approximately 800 examples of glyphs from the Hohokam Culture. The area, 18 miles West of Gila Bend, is well preserved despite the fact that it also has a camp ground and receives many visitors each season. I think the presence of a "camp manager" has quite a bit to do with it. The only restrictions placed on us were quite obvious to us... Don't climb on the rocks, don't try to
take any of the rocks and please don't try to add to the glyphs... other than that, ENJOY! I had thought we would stop in for half and hour just to check it out... after 2 hours I had to call it or we wouldn't make it to Saguaro before sunset! Even though were were behind schedule I couldn't resist exploring some of the dirt roads in the surrounding area. I have a suspicion that examining some of the rock formations around the old river bed would yeild even more glyphs. I'm looking forward to heading out to this area again sometime in the future and spending more time on foot. I need to get some BLM maps I guess. I'm never certain what areas are private lands and which are accessible to the general public. Next time!
. Highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.
