Round Trip Distance: 1.6 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4403 - 4431 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: Chalfant II
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Mno-66 Petroglyphs are located in a branch of Chidago Canyon north of Bishop, California. A single panel of petroglyphs on a rocky outcrop at the base of the canyon wall are all that make up the site.
To get there find your way first to the Chalfant Petroglyph site and then to the unmarked Chalfant South trailhead which is a tenth of a mile further south from the main Chalfant trailhead. From the south trailhead it is another 9 tenths of a mile along a high clearance 4wd road to Mno-66. We drove about half way there and then parked and began hiking. That was partially due to the road, which was following the streambed, getting progressively worse and partially because we wanted to look for any petroglyphs along the way that we hadn't heard mentioned anywhere.
As you proceed south set your sites upon a rocky outcrop that is down low at the base of the hill on the east side of the canyon.
This is what the outcrop looks like as you get closer.
And these are the petroglyphs that make up the site.
The prominent features are three sets of three circles connected by vertical lines that project from the peaks of a wavy line that is part of a group of wavy lines that stretch across the base of the rock. We thought they might represent something like dancers or prayers. The top circles seem to look like heads so they might indeed represent dancers. There are also a few bird tracks and other shapes.
Some of the zigzag lines follow the edge of the cracks but it does appear that part of the rock has fallen away since the images were made.
Above all of those images the boulder is etched with lines. Maybe the lines represent rain or maybe not.
It appears that this 4wd road can be followed on to the main branch of Chidago Canyon and then to the Fish Slough Road. There should be a few more petroglyphs once in the main branch and then the big group at the Chidago Canyon Petroglyph Site. We can't vouch for what condition the road is in past where we drove but it was basically just driving in the streambed so conditions could change. As far as Mno-66 goes if you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
