It could have been an expression of a belief in magic, inviting a bountiful harvest or peaceful days. Reasons don't matter. The art is here, someone's heartfelt labor hidden on overhanging huge fallen blocks of enduring Sierra Nevada granodiorite. The images speak through time to those willing to work hard enough to get there. Bighorn sheep bound.
Mounted men ride in file.
Geometric patterns wind through the composition, and less comprehensible figures stand, voice faint with years. The image above shows Indian Wells Canyon from a vantage south of Ridgecrest, looking northwest. Owens Peak is the high point on the right, with the long bright rocky ridge descending and swinging to the left. This expedition was sponsored by my friend JuLee, who had heard of these pictographs and wanted to take a look. Another friend, Earl, then from British Columbia, was here on vacation and we all headed up the canyon on a cool spring day in 1997.