An amazing petroglyph tour experience

In mid-November, Jason, Wade, and I went on a private petroglyph tour on base.  (Rhiannon was at an all-day band event out of town--we missed her!)  We met at the local movie theater parking lot with some other folks and then, after an extensive discussion of rules and what not to do, traveled on base to Little Petroglyph Canyon.  We had the "primo" experience and went all the way to the end of the canyon--several others with different tour guides just stopped about halfway.  April and Roy were our guides--they were the best!!

We scampered and climbed and had an amazing time, enjoying perfect weather, too.  I was pretty sore the next day (hello, out of shape!), but Jason and Wade were fine.  We agreed that we'd love to do it again sometime and take Rhiannon with us!

Info from the local museum's website:

"In the canyons and plateaus of the Coso Mountains are thousands of images left by the hunter-gatherer people who populated this region in times past. The images, called petroglyphs, are carved into basalt rocks, and range in age from Paleoindian times to the present. This is the largest known concentration of petroglyphs in the western hemisphere and is located on the Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake. Public access is permitted to the petroglyphs that are located in lower Renegade Canyon (also known as Little Petroglyph Canyon). Access is limited to tours with Navy-approved guides. People interested in visiting the petroglyphs can take museum-sponsored tours during the Spring and Fall months. Individual dates are announced on the Maturango Museum website."

I had to laugh at the info on Trip Advisor about this experience--it's rated the NUMBER ONE thing to do in Ridgecrest (out of 6 possible things, hahahahaha!)