Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Sierra de las Uvas, Cahoon Boulders - Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument















Finding a single, although spectacular petroglyph, a couple of weeks back didn't sit well with me. So I  went to Google Earth and  quickly scoped out a nearby boulder field and similar ravine to explore. I had a good feeling about finding  more rock art. It was a pretty day, with only light winds. I crossed the bare flats, and the playas with their gray tufts of grass just beginning to green up at the bottoms. Up side gullies I searched every boulder. The ones that had tumbled out to the flats, I searched too. I came to the larger ravine, with large boulders, very much like  the one where the petroglyph had been discovered,  and I searched that too. I found no rock art.
I saw javelinas scurry away from me. I rousted a barn owl from  its perch in an old juniper. I finally met up with my friends. On this social distancing hike we had taken two different routes. They were sitting near a collection of boulders on a hill that were my last hope.
 Since  they weren't snapping photos, I knew I was out of luck. We talked for a bit and then went our separate ways. A few minutes later, after we were out of sight of each other, near the bottom of the hill,  I found a wonderful black arrowhead ( projectile point).
I called to them, but they didn't hear. I called on the phone, there was service in this remote country and they came to have look. They agreed it was a nice find. I searched  a few  more boulders for rock art, and then the flats around the playas for artifacts, but  found nothing.
 IMPORTANT NOTE: Although I take photographs of cultural artifacts, I do not ever collect them.

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