Every Picture Tells a Story

“There’s nothing out there,” a Mammoth-oriented friend once remarked of the Eastern Sierra high-desert towns along California 14 and U.S. Highway 395. Having explored the Owens Valley, my husband, Dick, and I begged to differ. Now we were headed for new turf--the Sierra foothills city of Ridgecrest and a treasury of petroglyphs, some predating skiing by, ummm . . . say, 15,000 years?

We would combine our archeological tour with wanderings through local “junque” shops and the 40th anniversary dinner of the China Lake Mountain Rescue Group (Dick belongs to the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team). Setting out from L.A. on an overcast Friday, we took Highway 14 to Mojave, proceeded to Inyokern junction, turned right on California 178 and arrived in Ridgecrest. Drive time: 2 1/2 hours.

Surrounded by a bowl of sky and within sight of four mountain ranges (the Sierra Nevada, Coso, Argus and El Paso), this city of 30,000 owes its WalMart and wealth of fast food outlets to the presence of a singular patron--the U.S. government’s China Lake Naval Air Weapons Stations. It is on the base that Little Petroglyph Canyon is located.

Our afternoon departure meant time for plain but generous senior dinners at Kristy’s Family Restaurant on China Lake Boulevard in Ridgecrest and a trip to Kmart for the underwear we’d forgotten to bring. This light sleeper appreciated the comfortable bed and quiet at the Carriage Inn (a traditionally appointed motel) and Saturday’s short drive to breakfast at Ridgecrest’s homey Midway Cafe.

From there it was moments to our 8 a.m. meeting with 40 of our fellow tour members at the handsome Maturango Museum--and the pointed advisories of principal tour guide Lloyd Brubaker. The museum, which functions as a tourist center for the area, takes reservations for Saturday and Sunday petroglyph tours, plus some holiday-weekend Mondays, in the spring and fall. This spring’s tours run March 20 through June 6; fall tour dates aren’t yet firm. It’s best to reserve early by contacting the museum (see Budget for Two).

Little Petroglyph Canyon (also called Renegade Canyon) is one of the world’s largest protected Indian rock art sites. Thanks to the naval base presence, more than 6,000 Coso Mountain petroglyphs, some possibly dating back 19,000 years, are remarkably well preserved here. Tours from Maturango are limited to 50 people and not open to youngsters under 10. Strict regulations apply right up to the return trip through the China Lake checkpoint.

“All CB and amateur radios OFF. All cellular phones OFF. NO use of cameras will be permitted until we get to the petroglyph site,” Brubaker directed. “If you don’t have a full tank of gas, get it now.” Cars would caravan in a specific order, all to stop if any problem developed. Breakdown? “Leave your car and continue as a passenger in one of the other vehicles. China Lake will tow you out later.”

And so we were off on our 40-mile drive through the base to the canyon, spinning past fawn-colored hills, decaying weaponry and a verdant Joshua tree forest. Several people spotted wild horses, the descendants of strays from ranches, prospectors’ camps and the Los Angeles Aqueduct project. (A small number of extended tours depart the museum at 6 a.m., appreciated by photograhers.)

Dirt road jounced us the last six miles to the canyon parking area, where pit toilets and a covered picnic area awaited. After a brief orientation, Brubaker released us to explore at our own pace. He and three other guides stationed themselves at different points in the canyon, available (and watchful) yet never intrusive. Some adventurers clambered as far as the (dry) falls a mile and a half away. We stopped short of the last steep descent, about a quarter mile from this drop-off.

Over thousands of years, winds had blown a varnish of minerals on the Coso rocks. Native Americans used sharp stones to peck away this dark coating and expose the pale mass beneath. Modern archeologists believe the art is the work of Shoshone and Paiute shamans who recorded hallucinatory revelations during the course of solitary vision quests.

“How many times have you been here?” I asked Janet Westbrook, an earth momma of a guide with long braids. “Oh, gee,” she mused, “over 30 years? Easily several hundred.”

A profusion of petroglyphs spread from shadowed rocks at our feet to sunlit peaks above. Bighorn sheep (rain symbols) predominated, with deer, zigzag snakes and geometric shamans magically appearing and disappearing as the cloud cover shifted.

In a side canyon, two spunky figures faced off with bow and arrow. The archers would be roughly 1,500 years old, since bows arrived in the Cosos about AD 500. Older petroglyphs show the atlatl, or throwing stick. Occasionally, “recent” artwork overlies more ancient figures.

The sack lunches we all brought tasted super, and layered clothing proved invaluable at 5,000 feet. Sunglasses, sturdy shoes and water are musts. So is awareness. Rattlesnakes and debris from weapons tests are not unknown here.

No towing this day! After an uneventful drive, we arrived back at the Maturango at 3:30. By now, tourists filled the museum. Many planned itineraries at the Death Valley Tourist and Northern Mojave Visitors centers there. Others visited the art gallery or wandered past historical exhibits. I admired a glassware display, its once-clear cups and plates turned lavender through long exposure to the desert sun.

That evening Dick and I ate our herbed chicken dinner with fellow mountain rescue team members in the Carriage Inn banquet room. A comparable meal--sans mountaineering tales--costs $8.75 in the dining room. Had we not been committed to China Lake festivities, we’d have liked to sample New Mexican cuisine at Ridgecrest’s Santa Fe Grill, about which we’d heard good things.

On Sunday, we returned to Kristy’s, where plate-size pancakes passed Dick’s “flapjack test” with flying colors. Afterward we cruised Ridgecrest neighborhoods, looking particularly at the individualistic homes on the town’s outskirts. For now, sprawling ranch structures and a sprinkling of cubistic glass concoctions hold their own. Cookie-cutter development, however, seems headed their way.

One Antique Place opened at 11 a.m. This consortium of dealers on Balsam Street combines big-city prices with personable service and well-displayed desert community treasures. Kerosene lamps seemed a specialty amid tools, toys, books, furniture . . . and lavender glassware. Books provided the gravitational force at several other places. This was the place an avid collector friend despaired of ever seeing open. Sure enough, tempting objects lay unattainable behind locked doors, and purpling glassware among trunks and tubs and farm machinery in the sunny yard. If we were interested in buying, a sign suggested, we might make contact by phone, fax or e-mail.

No matter. We were content.

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Budget for Two

Gas: $25.00

Dinner, Kristy’s: 10.20

Carriage Inn,

2 nights: 149.04

Breakfast,

Midway Cafe: 9.95

Petroglyph tour, guidebook: 46.48

Food, sack lunch: 3.32

Dinner, Carriage Inn: 21.90

Breakfast, Kristy’s: 9.72

FINAL TAB: $275.61

The Carriage Inn, 901 N. China Lake Blvd., Ridgecrest 93555; tel. (800) 772-8527. Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores Ave., Ridgecrest 93555; tel. (760) 375-6900, fax (760) 375-0479, Internet https://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~matmus.