Round Trip Distance CA: 4.9 miles
Round Trip Distance NV: 5.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 1683 - 2285 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead CA: 35.09087, -114.75208
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 1683 - 2285 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead CA: 35.09087, -114.75208
Trailhead NV: 35.06214, -114.70751
Wash Route: 35.07975, -114.77288
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs, historic route
The Picture Canyon Petroglyphs are located in the Dead Mountains Wilderness near Needles, California. Picture Canyon was the historic route of the Mojave Road and an ancient route for Native People. The Native People that traveled through the area left behind hundreds of petroglyphs upon the granite walls of Picture Canyon.
We have identified 3 routes to Picture Canyon. Two of them from the California side and one from the Nevada side. The route that we took began at 35.09087, -114.75208 at the edge of the Dead Mountains Wilderness boundary on the California side. From there you follow the Mojave Road toward the canyon for 1.4 miles.
Having reached the mouth of the canyon we saw quite a few tire tracks coming down a wash. Either that is a sanctioned route through the wilderness area that doesn't show up on maps or it is a rogue route. If you are on foot like we were then that route would save a half mile in round trip hiking distance.
Even though it was in the month of February when we hiked into Picture Canyon the daytime temperatures were in the 90's so we started hiking at sunrise.
These are a couple of the petroglyphs that are at the first site that we labeled P1. Like all of the petroglyphs except P8 they are on the left, or north, side of the canyon.
And these are further into the canyon at the next 2 sites.
There are several places where panels of petroglyphs can be seen all the way up near the rim of the canyon in places where it appears that you could climb all the way out. Depending on where you are at in the canyon the rim is 300 - 400 feet above the wash. We wondered if there might be caves up near the rim in these places that could have served as dwellings.
Further along there is a spot where there is a slanted boulder that is down at the level of the wash that is covered with petroglyphs. On the cliffs above the boulder there are dozens more.
Right around the corner is another big group of images.
This group of images are from what would be called the main panels. This is the petroglyph spot that is marked on some topo maps.
With so many petroglyphs to look out individual images can be easily passed over. If you look closely near the top of this rock you can see a flute player sitting Indian style. There are also a handful of big handed anthropomorphic figures worth noticing including one square bodied figure that looks like a boogie man.
We were able to stay out of the deep sand for the most part while hiking the Mojave Road by walking off to the side of the road. I was thinking that when they set the wilderness boundaries in places like this they may have had in mind limiting casual visitors to help protect the rock art. If they are really serious about doing that they might want to put up a better barrier than the brown mylar markers that you can see in this photo that have tire tracks going over top of them.
As far as all of the many petroglyphs in Picture Canyon go, if you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs, historic route
The Picture Canyon Petroglyphs are located in the Dead Mountains Wilderness near Needles, California. Picture Canyon was the historic route of the Mojave Road and an ancient route for Native People. The Native People that traveled through the area left behind hundreds of petroglyphs upon the granite walls of Picture Canyon.
We have identified 3 routes to Picture Canyon. Two of them from the California side and one from the Nevada side. The route that we took began at 35.09087, -114.75208 at the edge of the Dead Mountains Wilderness boundary on the California side. From there you follow the Mojave Road toward the canyon for 1.4 miles.
Having reached the mouth of the canyon we saw quite a few tire tracks coming down a wash. Either that is a sanctioned route through the wilderness area that doesn't show up on maps or it is a rogue route. If you are on foot like we were then that route would save a half mile in round trip hiking distance.
Even though it was in the month of February when we hiked into Picture Canyon the daytime temperatures were in the 90's so we started hiking at sunrise.
These are a couple of the petroglyphs that are at the first site that we labeled P1. Like all of the petroglyphs except P8 they are on the left, or north, side of the canyon.
And these are further into the canyon at the next 2 sites.
There are several places where panels of petroglyphs can be seen all the way up near the rim of the canyon in places where it appears that you could climb all the way out. Depending on where you are at in the canyon the rim is 300 - 400 feet above the wash. We wondered if there might be caves up near the rim in these places that could have served as dwellings.
Further along there is a spot where there is a slanted boulder that is down at the level of the wash that is covered with petroglyphs. On the cliffs above the boulder there are dozens more.
Right around the corner is another big group of images.
This group of images are from what would be called the main panels. This is the petroglyph spot that is marked on some topo maps.
With so many petroglyphs to look out individual images can be easily passed over. If you look closely near the top of this rock you can see a flute player sitting Indian style. There are also a handful of big handed anthropomorphic figures worth noticing including one square bodied figure that looks like a boogie man.
As far as all of the many petroglyphs in Picture Canyon go, if you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
