Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4176 - 4215 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Sad Boulders
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs, grinding slicks
The Sad Boulders are a popular rock climbing spot in the Chalk Bluff area in Bishop, California. In the midst of the lower end of the boulder field are a few rocks that are covered with petroglyphs.
To get to the trailhead from Bishop you can enter 'Sad Boulders' into your driving app or simply drive north from Bishop on US-6 and turn left onto the 5 Bridges Road. After 1.8 miles merge left onto the Jean Blanc Road. In another 0.6 miles turn left onto the Chalk Bluff Road and follow that for 1.4 miles to the trailhead.
There is no need to follow the trail very far up the hill since the petroglyphs are all on boulders near the bottom of the slope.
Just off to the side of the trail a little below the boulders is a rock that is worth noticing with some grinding slicks.
In the middle of the boulder field there is a large rock with a couple of hollows, or concave surfaces, that both are covered with images. A few crossed circles appear on the sides of the boulder as well as other boulders nearby.
This is a view from a distance of the lower cavity in the boulder. There are multiple crossed circles among the other images.
This is the smaller upper cavity.
Crossed circles can also be spotted on other boulders nearby.
Another large boulder that faces upwards has a large number of petroglyphs and cupules. The images are difficult to photograph without climbing on top of them which we chose not to do.
With a little exploring a few more petroglyphs can be found in the same area on other boulders.
