The Squaw Spring Petroglyphs are located on the northside of Red Mountain near Red Mountain, California. We discovered one rocky outcrop with a few petroglyphs that was marked by the BLM with a plaque but from hints that we have read there are probably more archeological resources in the area.
To get there, from Red Mountain turn off of US 395 onto the Trona Road. After 1.35 miles turn right onto RM1444. To get to the trailhead from there you can take either RM189 or RM199. If you enter the trailhead coordinates 35.36937, -117.56773 into your driving app it seems to default to RM189. We think that RM199 is the preferred route and if you want to go that way you can either drag over to that route or simply drive to where RM199 begins and let your driving app reroute itself. RM189 is about 1 mile from the Trona Road whereas RM199 is about 2.25 miles. Both routes require a high clearance vehicle. We never used 4WD but it might be nice to have.
At the 1 mile point of the RM199 route you will want to go right where it intersects with RM189 and continue for another 0.85 miles to the trailhead.
There is a short spur that branches off of RM189 that climbs a hill to the unmarked trailhead that is in front of a locked gate. Looking ahead you can spot a rocky outcrop. The petroglyphs are on a smaller rocky outcrop that is just above that one.
As you hike the short distance down the road you will come to a guzzler on the right. There is no official trail from this point so pick out whatever route seems best to get up to the first rocky outcrop and then past it to the next smaller one.
When you arrive you will find a small plaque at the site.
This image is off to the side by itself.
Here are 3 rayed circles. There might be a very faint fourth lollipop image off to the right.
The images on the left look connected until you look closer and notice that the line descending from the top circle stops at the crack in the rock.
Growing from a little pocket below the images is a wild onion. Wild onions are prolific in the area. The little bulbs are usually pretty tasty and I'm sure the ancient people must have enjoyed them. Before you go to eating them yourself be sure to learn the difference between the various types of wild onions and death camas. We didn't see any death camas in the area and don't know if it even grows there. It's just common back in Western Colorado so I always think about it.
Whatever they may have meant by them, most of the images were circles or included a circle.
Here are a couple more circles and a few faint shapes that we outlined on the computer.
We were here in late February and there was a pretty good super bloom occuring at the time.
We had meant to continue hiking all the way down to Squaw Spring and explore around another rocky outcrop in that area but somehow forgot to do so. All though what we did see was interesting there wasn't all that much to it so it would have been nicer to maybe have discovered something more near the spring to make the drive a little more productive. If you would like to see the place for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
