A Large Bear with A Huge Tuning Fork… Burning Man

/ Curt Mekemson / 5 Comments

There is always space at Burning Man. Finding a prime location may be a challenge. 2005 found us camping on the edge of the desert. Here, our faithful mounts wait patiently for us.

As I wrote in my last post, Burning Man is less than three weeks away. To provide my readers with a sense of what this event is like, I am reposting some of my earlier blogs. This post reflected my trip to Burning Man in 2005.

I arrived with four friends in tow; an education specialist, an architect, a judge and an interior designer – all of us members of the post-50 crowd and well entrenched in the middle class world.

While I can’t speak for the others, my primary reason for showing up was simple. I love fairs.  I will also confess that I still have a tiny spark of Beatnik/Hippie lurking in the dim recesses of my mind left over from living in the Bay Area during the 60s.

My job was to show up early in my van and find space. It wasn’t easy. While your ticket guarantees a place, you have to be early to obtain prime real estate.

“Look for me on Catharsis Street between 8:00 and 9:00,” I told my friends. Streets are renamed each year depending on the year’s art theme. In 2005 it was Psyche.

This is the official 2012 Burning Man map. Named streets, following the alphabet, are semi-circular. Numbered streets, based on time, cut across the named streets and carry participants down toward the Playa. The Man is at the center. The blue areas of Black Rock City are preassigned. Other spaces are first come, first serve. 60,000 people will attend Burning Man this year. 

I was happily sitting in Reno making my contribution to Nevada’s economy when the Catharsis property was gobbled up. Nor could I find space on Amnesia, Bipolar, Delirium, Ego, Fetish or Gestalt Streets. I ended up in the boonies at Hysteria and 8:00 with nothing beyond but empty desert. “Far out,” I giggled to myself.

Setting up camp and adopting aliases are the first orders of business at Burning Man. Many folks come as large groups or ‘tribes’ and set up elaborate theme camps with names like Zenplicity, Plato’s Cave, Tribal Thunder, Mousetrap, Heebeegeebee Healers and the Mind Shaft Society. Over 450 such camps were listed in the 2005 directory.

“Tribes” come in all shapes and sizes. Some build elaborate theme camps such as the members of Vamp Camp.

The Mind Shaft Society, a tribe made up of scientists, created these colorful monsters that Peggy, AKA Luna, is standing in front of.

Most tribes bring large tents, build massive shade structures and decorate their camps extensively. Ours consisted of a simple shade structure, two small tents and my RV. We also put up a hitching post for our faithful steeds/bicycles.

Since one of our intrepid ‘tribe’ brought kids’ stick horses to affix to our bikes we adopted the name Horse Camp. Our aliases and costumes also reflected the theme, sort of. I was Outlaw and my steed, Horse with No Name. Then there was Scout with his Palomino Trigger, Wilbur and Mr. Ed, “It’s a kilt not a skirt” Scottie with Grand Teton and Nancy, a.k.a. Nancy, with a unicorn she named Horny Princess.

Scottie shows off his fine clothes.

With business taken care of, we were free to meet the neighbors. One set was from Auburn/Nevada City, California and the other from Arizona. Both groups were made up of veteran Burners. I was somewhat amused when our southern neighbors arrived to apologize that they had a generator along but would only operate it early in the morning to make Lattes. In true Burner style, they invited us to show up with our cups.

“Gifting” is an important concept at BM. In addition to free Lattes, our neighbors had soon offered us bracelets and necklaces. They even wanted to silk-screen our T-shirts with the BM symbol. Our most unusual gift, however, arrived when we were drinking beer with the Arizonans. Bear came by and offered us a tune up.

He stood over seven feet tall and must have weighed 300 pounds. His tools of trade were a five-foot long tuning fork and a rubber mallet. Scout the Judge, an adventuresome type of guy, immediately volunteered. His neck had been bothering him. I was more reluctant but the Arizonans insisted I needed help, lots of it. Bear took on Scottie and me together. My arthritic hip was in need of a miracle cure and Scottie was searching for peace of mind.

“Do you believe you can heal yourself,” Bear asked. Bam, bam, bam, bong! He pounded on his fork with his mallet and elicited a bell-like tone.  He drew the fork down over my body. I could feel my prostate vibrate.

“How do you feel now?” Bear asked. “Fine,” I responded quickly. Scout had answered negatively and Bear had immediately started growling and sucking on his neck… sucking out the offending evildoer in true Shamanistic style. I didn’t want Bear near my hip. I made it through the night without pain but my hip started aching again the next day. Maybe I should have taken the full cure. 

Next Blog… My favorite art at Burning Man

While the Horse Bone tribe has remained small. We do know how to have fun.

Burning Man: It’s Not for the Faint Hearted

/ Curt Mekemson / 12 Comments

Burning Man’s roots go back 27 years to the burning of an 8 foot tall statue on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Today’s man stands some 40 feet tall and rests on a 60 foot pedestal. The wooden man and his fiery demise symbolizes the annual event that takes place in the remote Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Finally I have lucked out and scored a ticket to Burning Man. Now I have to scurry about and get ready. The event is three weeks away; it is serious countdown time. This means my usual blog is going on vacation. For the next three weeks, my posts will be all about Burning Man. I am going to reblog some of my most popular Burning Man blogs and include many of my favorite photos.

Afterwards I promise full coverage on what the 2012 event was like. You are invited along!

I discovered my passion for deconstructing pumpkins in 1992 and came to accept Halloween as an adult holiday. I still had a major hurdle, though; I refused to wear a costume. Even as a kid I resisted dressing up for Halloween. Somehow it seemed un-cool.

Five trips to Burning Man have changed my mind. If you are one of those folks who can’t wait to morph into Count Dracula or Suzy Siren, you might want to visit this annual event.

Burning Man is close to Libertarian in its rules. You are, however, highly encouraged to wear a costume. These range from the simple, such as this guy wearing a neck piece and a bowler, to the more fanciful such as the woman with high shoes and a bikini bottom. Expect some nudity.

 

But be warned: Black Rock City, the home of Burning Man, is not for the faint hearted.

Temperatures can rise to over 115 during the day and drop to freezing at night in this instant city located in a remote section of the northern Nevada desert. Dust storms whip across the Playa creating zero visibility and coating everything with a fine layer of dust. Eyes, ears, lungs, clothes, tents, vehicles, cameras and laptops become instant victims in this environment. Cleaning up afterwards is a weeklong process, so serious that some RV companies refuse to rent to Burning Man bound celebrants.

A huge dust storm makes its way across the Playa creating close to zero visibility along the way. (Photo by Don Green.)

Just when you believe you have mastered the heat and dust, it rains and you find two inches of mud caked on the bottom of your shoes or bike tires.

None of this seems to deter participants. They come in the thousands to this happening, which runs for a week including Labor Day. Burners, as they like to be known, come from all over the world to see and be seen, to party and perform, to enjoy and create art. And they get there in almost every conceivable mode of transportation including ancient busses, trucks, autos, bicycles, airplanes and over 3000 RVs – all loaded down with the paraphernalia necessary for a week of desert survival.

Overnight, a community of 50 thousand plus rises out of the desert, making Black Rock City the fourth largest city in Nevada for its one week of existence. Burners arrive to a well laid out semi-circular street system, some 450 port-a-potties, a Center Camp Café, the 40-foot tall Burning Man statue (perched on a 60-foot plus base) and little else. Everything they need must be brought with them.

This year a city of 60,000 people will appear and disappear in the Nevada Desert during Burning Man. This photo illustrates what it looks like early in the week. There are still spaces. My van Quivera, is in the foreground. (Photo by Ken Lake)

Center Camp is one of the few structures Burners find set up when they arrive. Here it is operating full tilt as shown by the hundreds of bikes (BM’s primary mode of travel), which are parked outside.

With the exception of coffee, tea, lemonade and ice, nothing can be bought or sold. There is zero commercialization.

As for what the event is, it can be almost anything an individual wants it to be. The only requirements are that you pay the entrance fee and follow a few basic rules.

I asked my friends to describe the event. Their answers included 1) Las Vegas glitter with a new age twist, 2) Haight Ashbury, Woodstock and Mardi Gras rolled into one, 3) a medieval fair dropped into an ancient Greek Bacchanal, and 4) a frat party with avant-garde art.

I view Burning Man as one of the greatest shows on earth. It ranges from the whimsical, as represented by this rabbit, to more serious themes.

My own take is that Burning Man may very well be the greatest show on Earth, a modern-day ‘Hippy Happening’ of gargantuan proportion. New age idealism combines with personal liberation, art, exhibitionism, holistic healing, self-discovery, environmental awareness and partying. Step aside Barnum and Bailey.

The event reaches back 27 years when an eight-foot version of the ‘Man’ was first burned on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Legend has it that Larry Harvey, the creator of Burning Man, was mourning a lost love.

Revisionist thinking suggests something deeper was involved, a search for meaning and unity in our Post-Modern world. And there is an element of that at Burning Man. Certainly much of the art is reflective of Post-Modern thought. There is also an underlying Utopian fervor among the BM true believers that the event can create positive change in the world.

Next Burning Man Blog: Beware of Large Bears with Tuning Forks

When I think Burning Man I think art. This colossal woman appears to be celebrating the event.

 

The Wonderful World of Birds’ Bills… On the Road

/ Curt Mekemson / 8 Comments

I love pelicans. They have that ‘put together by a committee’ look. Check out the sharp hook on his bill. I took this photo in Baja California near Cabo San Lucas.

 

A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill will hold more than his belican.

Dixon Lanier Merritt

Whenever I see a pelican, Dixon Merritt’s poem pops into my mind unbidden. Birds’ beaks, or bills if you prefer, are wonderful adaptations to their environment.

As I write this blog from my home in southern Oregon, a Rufous Hummingbird has his beak buried deep in our feeder while a Black Headed Grosbeak worries sunflower seeds on the hill behind him. The hummingbird’s beak is long and delicate, designed to capture nectar in the hidden recesses of flowers. The grosbeak’s beak is short and stubby, perfect for cracking open seeds.

I photographed the Brown Pelican in Baja California near Cabo San Lucas. Peggy found the Snowy Egret there as well. The rest of the birds featured in this blog are from Florida except for my final picture of Brown Pelicans. Few places can match Everglades National Park when it comes to unique bird life with interesting bills.

Peggy captured this Snowy Egret on film on the same Baja trip we found the pelican. Both Egrets and Herons have spear like bills. I like the way the Egret’s shadow allows his feet to be seen.

Speaking of spear like bills, how would you like to be on the receiving end of this one? I took this photo of a Great Blue Heron in Florida. While we normally think of Great Blue Herons eating frogs, fish and baby alligators, they are also quite fond of small rodents. I have often watched them patiently stalk mice on the Bodega Bay Headlands of Northern California. Their strike is lightning fast.

This Anhinga in Everglades National Park is obviously eyeing something in the grass next to it. Like Cormorants, Anhinga are designed to catch their dinner while diving and are well designed to do so.

A more typical picture of an Anhinga, drying its wings after a dive.

This Sand Hill Crane and four buddies came strolling into our camp in Central Florida.

When one thinks Florida and Everglades, it is natural to think of Flamingos. It’s hard to find more colorful beaks.

In my last blog I featured Black Vultures in Everglades National Park. This one looks pensive. Again, note the hooked bill designed for tearing flesh off of dead things.

White Ibis are common in the Everglades. They use their long curved bill to probe mud.

This guy is a little fuzzy but any collection of photos featuring birds beaks needs to include the Spoonbill, another resident of the Florida Everglades.

The mottled head and beak of a Wood Stork, also photographed in the Everglades.

I’ll close with my favorite bird. I took this shot of Brown Pelicans just south of Santa Barbara, California.

The Handsome Black Vulture… Everglades National Park

/ Curt Mekemson / 4 Comments

A Black Vulture appears to take a bow after cleaning out a camper’s food.

The warning signs at Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park were clear: Food Must Be Properly Stored. The best place was in the trunk of your vehicle.

The folks from New Jersey apparently didn’t get the message, or more likely, chose to ignore it. Signs were posted everywhere. They left their picnic table packed with a weeks worth of food as they drove off.

I glanced over from our campsite five minutes later. The trees over the table had turned black. Fifty or so vultures were contemplating dinner. What happened next wasn’t pretty. If you have ever watched hyper five-year-olds tear into Christmas presents you get the picture. Food wrapping paper flew everywhere.

I walked over and shouted at the invading forces. They flew up into the trees. As I walked back to our site they returned to their feast. I tried again. This time they croaked angrily at being interrupted and walked away instead of flying. As I strolled after them another group landed on the table. An exploding bag of potato chips elicited a chorus of delight.

I gave up. You have to know when you are defeated. I once tried to rescue an ice chest from a bear at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. A family from Iowa had left it outside their camper. The bear stood up on his hind legs and growled at me.  He was huge. I told the bear he was welcome to the ice chest and the Iowans.

I left the Black Vultures with a similar message. Later that night I heard the family from New Jersey arrive back at their camp. They let loose a torrent of obscenities that even a writer couldn’t imagine. Their camp looked like New Orleans after Katrina. The family was laughing the next morning, however. One of the joys of travel is having stories to tell when you get back home and they had a doozy.

Usually Black Vultures eat carrion. You can spot them throughout the Southeast wherever roadkill is found. But they are also quite willing to clean out a camper, gather at the local municipal dump or even eat an occasional calf. They are birds of opportunity.

Like buzzards, they have bald heads to make reaching into dead things easier. Imagine how messy feathers would become. They also have large ripping beaks and are noted for peeing on their legs to keep cool. Given all this you may find it surprising I think they are quite handsome. But check out their photos below.

Black Vultures are monogamous and share incubation responsibilities. They don’t build nests but are known to lay their two eggs in caves, on rocks or even in old buildings. Bits of broken glass, bright plastic, bottle caps and other baubles are used to decorate the area. They value privacy and may scout an area for days to assure its isolation. Young vultures often stay with their parents for years in a social group.

In addition to the Southeast, they are found throughout Central and South America. With global warming they are expanding into the north.

One reason given for Black Vultures assuming this pose is to dry out their feathers. I often seen buzzards perched in trees in the West with wings spread like this before beginning to fly on damp mornings. The wingspan of mature Black Vultures is around five feet.

This is the same Black Vulture shown above with his wings folded. He looks well fed to me. Note his large feet.

I found this Black Vulture along the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park.

The vulture waited patiently while I took photos. Maybe he was contemplating my food value. Note the large, ripping beak. It is easy to understand how this guy would make short work of either a dead cow or a bag of potato chips. In my next blog I will feature specialized beaks from other Everglades birds.

A closed eyelid gave this Black Vulture an eerie appearance. While my readers may not agree with my handsome designation, I am sure that everyone will agree that these birds have a striking appearance.

Gators and Glades… The National Park Series

/ Curt Mekemson / 8 Comments

The ancestors of this alligator, photographed in Florida’s Everglades National Park, roamed the earth some 150 million years ago.

I’ve been following the blog Serenity Spell by FeyGirl that explores the natural world of Florida. It is well written and includes great photos, in-depth information, and a strong ecological philosophy. I highly recommend it.

FeyGirl’s posts have reminded me of my own experiences in the Everglades National Park and other Florida wetlands.

My brother Marshall, a 72-year-old homeless man with a pickup truck and a bank account, likes to hide out in remote Florida campgrounds six months out of the year and read books. Catching up with him has taken me into places where tourists rarely tread. Trust me, Marshall does not hang out at Disneyworld or Epcot Center.

Peggy’s parents, John and Helen, also lived in Central Florida for years and John, in his 70s and 80s at the time, loved to take us for hikes and point out anhinga, alligators, cottonmouths and other Florida wildlife.

Given all this, I decided to write about the Everglades this week. I’ll start with alligators, move on to a handsome vulture and end with some very impressive bird beaks.

The photographer in me loves alligators. They are big (up to 1000 pounds), like to sunbathe and don’t see any reason to run away. With over a million residing in Florida, they are also easy to find. During dry season they congregate where water is found and actually enlarge wet areas by digging out “gator holes.”

What makes them so photogenic, however, is their exotic look. It comes from having been around for 150 million years and surviving the demise of dinosaurs. I am particularly fond of photographing them as they slither through the water. It captures them at their primitive best.

I begin photographing this alligator at some distance and ended when it was a few feet away. He went about his own business and I went on about mine.

The most surprising fact for me about alligators is that the females make such good mothers. They start by building nests two-three feet high of plant debris and dirt.  They then lay 30 to 50 eggs and patiently guard the nest for 70 days until the babies hatch. The sex of the babies is determined by how warm the nest is. Cooler produces females, hotter produces males.

Mom’s job isn’t over with the hatching. She hangs out and protects her babies for another year. Lots of things including other alligators, fish, raccoons and even Great Blue Herons find baby alligators tasty. Later, when the babies grow up, they return the favor by eating the same creatures that wanted to eat them. What goes around comes around.

The protective coloration of these young alligators makes them difficult to see. Mom is hiding out near by on guard duty against predators.

One predator that is fond of eating baby alligators is the Great Blue Heron. Peggy photographed this one about 50 yards away from where the pod of young alligators was located.

While alligators normally don’t eat people, they are dangerous. Any animal that weighs several hundred pounds, has 80 sharp teeth and a bite to die for deserves respect. Ask a dog. Their collars are frequently found in the stomachs of alligators that live in close proximity to people. Alligators rarely catch cats. The dog sees the alligator as something to bark at and chase off of the property. The cat sees the alligator as a reason for climbing a tree. It’s best to error on the side of cats.

Reptiles that can weigh several hundred pounds, have mouths full of teeth, and jaws with crushing power deserve respect.

Our traveling mascot, Eeyore the Donkey, hides out in the van when we go out to photograph alligators.

As one might expect, alligators are particularly aggressive during breeding season and while protecting nests. Also, feeding alligators is both dangerous and illegal. A Florida man learned this lesson the hard way a few days ago and lost his hand.

Having put in the cautionary label, respect not fear is the key word. These ancient reptiles are fascinating to see and safe to visit as long as common sense and caution are used. The Anhinga Trail at the Royal Palm Visitor Center in Everglades National Park provides a safe, excellent introduction to alligators as well as Florida’s unique bird life. Winter is the best time to visit.

We caught this alligator doing what alligators love to do, sunbathe. I took this photo on the Anhinga Trail next to the Royal Palm Visitor Center at Everglades National Park. I love the way the gator’s body conforms to the rock.

Newspaper Rock: 2000 Years of Indian Rock Art… All the News that’s Fit to Peck

/ Curt Mekemson / 14 Comments

Newspaper Rock is filled with Indian rock-art that has been created over a period of 2000 years. This is my version of the headlines.

Sometime around when the historic Jesus was pounding the pavement of Jerusalem seeking recruits, Native Americans began pecking away at Newspaper Rock, creating petroglyphs. What they were trying to say is still something of a question mark. Guesses range from the mundane to the mysterious.

For example, was the guy shooting the buck in the rear a mystical symbol to give the hunter luck, or was it a recording of the event. “Shot big buck. Everyone is invited over for venison stew.”

Some images appear quite clear in intent. This Native American in sitting on a horse and using his bow and arrow to shoot a big buck. Hollywood would call it an action shot.

Like modern graffiti, some rock-art was likely meant to say, “I was here” or “This is the territory of clan such and such…” a no trespassing and no hunting sign. Enter at your own risk.

One interesting question is whether there was any purposeful art in rock-art? Did the creator peck away for the sheer joy of pecking away and creating a masterpiece?

In Navajo the rock is called Tse’ Hane or “rock that tells story.”

We can’t be sure when the individual petroglyphs were made. As I’ve noted before, Indian rock-art is very hard to date. The relative thickness of the rock varnish, the use of bow and arrows, the availability of horses, and the petroglyphs’ resemblance to other rock-art being created in the same era are all used as clues.

The National Historic Marker at the site notes that Archaic, Basket Maker, Fremont, Pueblo and Navajo cultures added their stories to the rock. In more modern times, pioneers even became involved.

Unfortunately, the tradition continues today. All too often people can’t resist adding their own names, marring and destroying the original petroglyphs at various sites. Think of spray-painting your name on the stained glass windows of the Cathedral Notre-Dame in Paris for comparison.

What’s fascinating about Newspaper Rock is the sheer number of petroglyphs included and the time frame over which they were created. I am also impressed with the variety of animals represented. For example, I can’t recall seeing flying squirrels or rabbit tracks in other rock-art sites Peggy and I have visited.

Newspaper Rock is located on Utah’s highway 211 which serves as the south entrance to Canyonlands National Park and is south of Moab. The following photos are a few examples of what you can expect to see. I take total responsibility for the interpretations.

A flying squirrel sails across the sky at Newspaper Rock.

Big foot, bear foot, bird foot and a screaming ladder.

What little kids expect to find hiding under their bed at night.

A bow-legged trick rider?

A bow-legged trick rider? Yeehaw!

This represents the richness of wildlife found on Newspaper Rock. I see deer, a buffalo, big horn sheep, a bear and a lizard. I don’t have a clue what the long creature on the left with the strange legs is. Any guesses?

I’ve included this photo to illustrate how crowded the petroglyphs are on Newspaper Rock. Note the rabbit tracks working their way upward on the upper-right center.

Buffaloed?

Bear with me. (grin)

A picture of the complete Newspaper Rock site. The fence has been added to discourage people from defacing the petroglyphs.

My favorite photo. I like the contrast between the orange sandstone and dark rock varnish.

Where the Colorado and Green Rivers Meet… Canyonlands National Park

/ Curt Mekemson / 6 Comments

A gargoyle-type rock perches above the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park.

I have a weakness for gargoyles. Their grotesque features appeal to my sense of humor. Or is that warped sense of humor? Whether I am touring a medieval cathedral or visiting Gotham City, they leap out and capture my imagination. Thus I was delighted when I came across a gargoyle-type rock hanging out above Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands is where the Green and Colorado Rivers meet. The down-cutting erosive power of these two rivers combined with the uplift of the Colorado Plateau and six million years of time are responsible for the breathtaking multitude of canyons and rock formations found in the Park.

A trip out the park road to Island in the Sky provides views of both basins and other prominent park features. A detour to Dead Horse Point State Park off of the main road shows the Colorado River doubling back and almost meeting itself in a major meander known as the Gooseneck.

The Colorado River winds around and almost meets itself at Gooseneck. This photo is taken from Dead Horse State Park and is looking down into Canyonlands.

Flowers, twisted juniper trees, wildlife and distant mountains add to the scenery.

Both Canyonlands and Arches National Park are easy day trips out of Moab in southeastern Utah. Sego Canyon with its fascinating examples of Indian rock art that I blogged about recently is also within easy driving distance.

One of the Southwest’s best known Indian rock art sites, Newspaper Rock, is located on the southern road into Canyonlands National Park. I will feature the site in my next blog.

Finger like canyons working downward to the Colorado River gradually cut away at the harder rock of White Mesa. This picture is taken from Grand View Point at the end of Island in the Sky Mesa. The maze-like canyons that disappear into the distance provide multiple reasons for the Parks name.

Flowers, like this Indian Paintbrush, add a dash of color to Canyonlands.

Junipers, even young ones, tend to look old, but this guy has obviously been around for a while.

Raven has a special place in Native American lore. His tricky ways, croaky voice, and ability to survive in extreme conditions give him a special position in the bird kingdom.

Spring is sprung but this young buck is still wearing his winter coat. While it may not be the height of fashion, it’s warm.

Distant snow-covered mountains, multi-colored rock cliffs, deep canyons and picturesque trees are all part of the Canyonlands National Park scenery.

Stark tree.

It is easy to lose yourself in the vast open spaces of the Southwest. My wife Peggy and Cloud prove the point.

The semi-arid climate, erosive forces of nature, and geology of Canyonlands National Park and the Southwest combine to create unique natural sculptures.

If my memory serves me correctly, these two sculptures are called the Beehives.

This massive monument of sandstone greets visitors at the north entrance to Canyonlands National Park.

Cub Creek Petroglyphs… Dinosaur National Monument

/ Curt Mekemson / 7 Comments

Like much Indian rock-art, Cub Creek petroglyphs in Dinosaur National Monument raise intriguing questions. It would be fascinating to know the story behind this unique anthropomorphic figure. What do the lines stretching toward the sky represent?

Peggy and I crossed over the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument and followed the road toward the cabin of Josie Basset Morris, the tough old pioneer woman who had worked her way through five husbands and finally discovered she preferred living alone.

The river, mountains and distant vistas entertained us along the way. Two prominent landmarks, Elephant Toes and Turtle Rock, lived up to the names the early settlers had bestowed on them. I found the big toes particularly amusing.

Elephant Toes Rock in Dinosaur National Monument along the Cub Creek Road. 

While not  as humorous as Elephant Toes, the turtle of Turtle Rock is easy to see. Both Native Americans and pioneers were quick to see and name familiar figures in the landscape.

The true surprise on our way to Josie’s, however, was the Indian rock-art. Huge six-foot lizards had been pecked into the cliff faces high above the Cub Creek Valley. One can only wonder if the Native Americans of the Fremont Culture had somehow made the correlation between dinosaur bones found throughout Dinosaur National Monument and really big lizards. Or did small lizards so prominent in desert environment serve as the models?

Our van, Quivera, provides perspective on how high up in the cliffs the Cub Creek petroglyphs are.

Giant, six-foot long, rock-art lizards work their way up the rock face at Cub Creek. Are they representative of the dinosaur bones Native Americans found at Dinosaur National Monument?

Or did the giant petroglyph lizards represent the small lizards so prominent in the arid regions of the West?

Numerous other petroglyphs also demanded our attention. We even found a partial image of Kokopelli, the hunch backed flute player found in ancient rock-art from Mexico to Canada and whose image has been applied on everything from jewelry, to blankets, to pottery in today’s gift shops throughout the West. Kokopelli was both a musician and trickster god, but mainly he was a fertility deity known for his for his bad behavior. Watch out fair maidens one and all.

My wife Peggy admires a small section of the numerous petroglyphs found at the Indian rock-art site on Cub Creek in Dinosaur National Monument.

A partial petroglyph of the flute playing Kokopelli is found at the Cub Creek Indian rock-art site. Odds are he is luring young maidens with his music.

Geometric forms are common in rock-art. This galaxy-like representation caught my attention.

I selected this particular photo because it demonstrates how dark rock varnish has been chipped away in the petroglyph process to reveal the lighter colored rock underneath.

An early day smiley? This guy appears to me to be all mouth and legs but it’s creator likely had something else in mind.

Greetings Earthlings. Check out the dangling ear rings and necklace on this guy. Jewelry apparently was quite important to early Native Americans and may have represented an individuals importance or clan. You will probably note the prominent anatomy as well. Genitalia was often included on Indian rock-art until the Spanish Missionaries informed the natives that such display was sinful.

I call this petroglyph Big Boy.

A Jurassic Playground… Dinosaur National Monument

/ Curt Mekemson / 2 Comments

Dinosaur National Monument is located on the border between Colorado and Utah on the southeast flank of the Unita Mountains. This photo featuring the Green River was taken near our campsite. Yellow Rabbit Bush provides a splash of yellow.

While Dinosaur National Monument lacks the grandeur of some of it’s better-known cousins, it has an armload of subtle beauty, two gorgeous rivers, and a super abundance of dinosaur bones that attract world-renowned paleontologists like bears to honey.

It also has a fine collection of Indian rock-art and at least one eccentric pioneer. I’ll save the rock-art for my next blog but I’ll introduce the pioneer now. Her name was Josie Basset Morris. She lived to be 90 years old, divorced four husbands, buried a fifth, and spent the majority of her life living alone in the backcountry of what is now Dinosaur National Monument.

She was one tough old coot.

During Prohibition, she was known for making a fine apricot brandy. In her 60s she was arrested and acquitted for cattle rustling, twice.

Peggy and I went to visit the log cabin that she had built and lived in for 50 years. Natural features compensated for what it lacked in modern amenities such as electricity, running water and a phone. An ice-cold spring provided water, a hidden box canyon served as a corral, and river bottom dirt supplied fertile ground for fruit trees and other crops. 

Apparently she lived quite well. But what about the tough times? I am guessing she lived off of homemade booze and rustled filet mignon.

Peggy stands next to the log cabin that Josie Basset Morris lived in for 50 years and provides a five-foot, six-inch perspective on the size of the cabin.

A photo of Josie at her cabin in the early 50s. (Photo from Google images.)

Earl Douglass was working for the Carnegie Museum out of Pittsburg PA when he discovered the dinosaur bones in 1909. He was looking for more recent mammal fossils. The dinosaurs roamed the area in Jurassic times, some 100 million years ago. He spent several years digging bones, packing them up and shipping them off to Pittsburg where you can now see them reassembled at the museum.

Or you can visit the Douglass Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument and see how paleontologists dig up the bones. Some 1400 have been exposed and labeled at the Quarry. It’s an incredible site. It was closed when Peggy and I visited due to disrepair but fortunately I had visited it before.  Funding from the Obama Administration has since allowed this treasure to be reopened to visitors from around the world.

Peggy and I satisfied our desire to see dinosaur bones by scrambling around on the hillside near the Quarry and stopping off at the Visitor Center. The Peripatetic Bone was impressed with his ancient relatives.

The Peripatetic Bone was quite impressed with the size of his ancient relatives. Here he rests on dinosaur toes at the Dinosaur National Monument Visitor Center.

Since the Douglass Quarry was closed we scrambled up the hillside to find where a dinosaur bone had been exposed in the hillside.

We camped on the Green River and looked out on the surrounding mountains. Dinosaur National Monument is located on the southeast flank of the Unita Mountain Range, which is a part of the Rockies. Both the Green River and its sister, the Yampa, make my river running friends drool.

The River was wide and calm where we camped, however. Fremont Cottonwoods provided shade and rabbit bush a dash of yellow. I wandered around with my camera and enjoyed the beauty. 

Next blog: The Petroglyphs of Dinosaur National Monument.

View from our campsite on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.

A close up of the mountains shown in the Dinosaur National Monument photo above.

Another view of the mountains from our campsite on the Green River in Utah. This photo is set off by Fremont Cottonwood Trees.

The leaf of a Fremont Cottonwood tree backlit by the sun.

Flowers decorating the road into Dinosaur National Monument.

The Ancient World of Indian Rock Art… On the Road

/ Curt Mekemson / 9 Comments

My wife Peggy and I have travelled throughout the western United States visiting and photographing Native American rock-art. We found this petroglyph of a cougar in the Three Rivers Petroglyph National Recreation Site of southern new Mexico.

I grew up in the town of Diamond Springs, California located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Once upon a time Diamond had been known as Mo-lok’epakan, or, Morning Star’s Spring. It was a very holy place to the Maidu Indians. They came from miles around bearing their dead on litters for cremation.

Apparently the Maidu had been living in the area for a thousand years. It is a sad commentary on both our education system and how we treated the Indians that I grew up never hearing the name Morning Star’s Spring much less Mo-lok’epakan.

Our only connection with the Maidu’s lost heritage was finding an occasional arrowhead or Indian bead.

The thrill of finding arrowheads, however, led to a lifelong fascination with the culture of Native Americans. Over the past ten years that fascination has led me to an interest in Indian rock-art or petroglyphs and pictographs. Petroglyphs are pecked or scraped from dark, rock varnish exposing a lighter color underneath. Pictographs are painted on rocks.

Indian rock-art is found at thousands of locations throughout the Western United States often near water or unique landmarks. Searching for rock-art is often like a treasure hunt. Here you can spot a group of petroglyphs on the left about a third of the way up the rock.

Peggy and I have explored and photographed major rock-art sites throughout the western US. Today I will introduce Sego Canyon located in eastern Utah off of I-70 near the small town of Thompson. Later I will blog about other sites such as the Three Rivers Petroglyph National Recreation Site of New Mexico.

What captured me about Sego Canyon is the unique, almost ethereal rock-art of the archaic peoples, and the fact that the rock-art represents three distinctive Native American cultures ranging over 8000 years.

The pictographs featured below were made by archaic hunter-gatherer nomads who wandered across western North America between 6000 and 100 BC. Rock art is classified according to various styles and this particular style is known as Barrier Canyon. Its attributes include life-size, man-like creatures with hollow eyes, missing arms, antennae, and lots of snakes. The theory is that the figures may have represented shamanistic journeys to the underworld. I am voting for encounters with aliens… just kidding.

This rock-art, which is found in Sego Canyon, Utah, was created sometime between 6000 and 100 AD. It is classified as the Barrier Canon style. Note the hollow eye sockets, antennae, horns and snakes.

This is a close up showing images from the above photo. There is some thought that these figures reflect shamanistic visits to the underworld but one can understand why UFO fans might think they represent encounters with aliens.

These figures from the Barrier Canyon style seem wraith-like… red ghosts arising from the rock.

The Fremont Culture existed between 600 and 1200 AD and represented a more settled lifestyle. The rock-art of the Fremont Indians featured rectangular bodies with small heads. Both deer and mountain sheep are also found in the rock art below. Note the Indian shooting the mountain sheep with a large bow and arrow.

This rock-art found in Sego Canyon is done in the so-called Fremont style where rectangular figures with elaborate jewelry were common.

Mountain sheep are the most common animals found in Native America rock-art.

The final culture represented in Sego Canyon is that of the Ute Indians who lived in the area from 1300 AD up to 1880 when they were forced off the land to live on reservations. One indicator of more ‘modern’ rock-art is the presence of horses that didn’t exist in North America until the Spanish introduced them in the 1500s. Note the red leggings on the central figure. I also like the little red guy riding the horse. Yahoo! The round figure on the right is thought to represent a shield.

Identifying the age of petroglyphs is a difficult process. The appearance of horses shows that the petroglyphs were created after the 16th Century when the Spanish introduced horses to North America.

In my next post I will travel to Dinosaur National Monument, which also has some very unique Indian rock-art such as this one featuring what I assume is a woman with big hands and some very fat dogs.