Willow Wash Petroglyphs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 2193 - 2231 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 35.20524, -115.87202
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs

The Willow Wash Petroglyphs are located just off of the Kelbaker Road in the Mojave National Preserve south of Baker, California. The site includes more than a dozen petroglyphs etched upon basalt cliffs.

For turn-by-turn directions to the pulloff that serves as the trailhead for the Willow Wash Petroglyphs enter 35.20524, -115.87202 into your driving app. From I-15 Exit 246 you will be directed south on the Kelbaker Road for 13.4 miles. Just after crossing a wash there is a small pullout on the left.

From the pullout there is a well worn social trail that leads up along the north side of the mesa to the petroglyphs.

One of the first good images that you will come to is about 20 feet above the trail.

Others like these are down lower on the cliff.

There is a second area of petroglyphs another hundred feet or so along the cliffs.

These are some of the better images that you can find in the second area.

We noticed a surprising amount of mountain lion scat on the trail along the cliff. Some of it pretty old and some of it more fresh. We didn't look around for any lair but the mountain lions obviously frequent the area.

Across Willow Wash and a little further up the Kelbaker Road are the Willow Wash Pictographs that are also worth visiting. The Willow Wash Petroglyphs are probably the easiest ones to get to in all of the vast Mojave National Preserve. At least of the sites that we have visited. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.