Round Trip Distance: 100 ft. - .02 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4534 - 4541 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: Birch Creek Rd. mm 1.6
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Iny-393 and Iny-394 petroglyph sites are both located near each other in the Fish Springs area south of Big Pine, California. The Iny-393 site consists of some nice, easy to see, petroglyphs on two large boulders while the Iny-394 site is mostly hard to see images on a single boulder.
To get there from Big Pine head south on US-395 for 4.8 miles and turn right onto the Fish Springs Road. Continue for 2.1 miles and go right onto the Tinemaha Road cutoff. (The four Fish Springs petroglyph sites are along the cutoff road.) Continue on the Tinemaha Road for about a half mile and turn right onto the Birch Creek Road.
The Birch Creek Road passes through a little cluster of private homes as it starts out. The first half mile continues along private property and is passable by 2wd vehicles. The road might be suitable for 2wd vehicles all the way up to the 1 mile point but it is there that the road dips through a shallow wash that is pretty rough. We don't recall any suitable places to park off of the road in this area. If a person was going to hike beginning at the half mile point they would have to take care not to park on private property.
The Iny-393 site butts right up against the side of the road where it crosses a small wash. We parked on top of the hill about an hundred yards before the wash and hiked from there but a person could drive all the way if they chose.
The petroglyphs on the large standing boulder are on the side that faces away from the road.
The long prominent image looks like a lizard with 6 front legs and 2 hind legs. It might be an abstract way to imagine a collared lizard. The shape of the head is somewhat like that of a collared lizard, or a chuckwalla for that matter. We did see a collared lizard so that's probably what put that idea in our heads. Of course, it could just be a big bug.
Off to the right side of the larger critter is a small image of a lizard.
To the left of the first boulder is another one that is more buried in the ground. These images are visible from the road. Flash floods have swept across the lower part of the boulder.
Most of the images on this rock are abstract geometric designs.
This is a look at some of the images on the top of the boulder.
Iny-394 is harder to find but if you head up the wash a short distance there is a small 4-rock cairn on the left side of the wash.
The path from the cairn leads 10 feet or so higher up from the bottom of the wash to this boulder. If you look close you can spot some very faint images. There are a few images that are pecked deeper into the rock that are partly obscured by lichens.
Anyway, as far as Iny-393 and Iny-394 go, if you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
