Overview

The Ash Springs Petroglyph Site is an area of lightly desert-varnished boulders on a low hill overlooking the verdant Pahranagat Valley. Ancient people apparently liked the view, as they used the site as a winter camp. While there, they ground food, flaked stones, broke ceramic vessels, and etched the rocks with scenes of bighorn sheep, human figures, and intricate designs of all sorts. We don't know the meanings of the rock stories, but these people had a lot to say.

The BLM and Lincoln County opened this area to the public, and Lincoln County printed a brochure with information about the site (including GPS) as part of their Get Primitive tourism campaign. Download the brochure from Lincoln County or snatch a copy here. There are two other guides for this site: an older BLM brochure (scanned from paper; 11 Mb PDF) and a newer BLM-Nevada Rock Art Foundation brochure (3.5 Mb PDF; note that the map is wrong).

This site is located along Ash Springs Petroglyph Site Road.

Links to Area Map, Site Map, or the old Hand-drawn BLM Map.

The Hike

From Site 1, the sign-in register box (Table 1, Waypoint M01), the route (there is no defined trail) runs north a few paces to a small diamond-shaped metal route-marker on a short rebar post. This is a directional arrow, and the arrow indicates to proceed straight ahead, but it actually means to turn right and head northeast. Marker #2 (Wpt. M02) is only 45 feet from the sign-in register, so don't walk too far looking for it, and Marker #3 (Wpt. M03) is only 110 feet from the sign-in register. Each numbered marker indicates a site with petroglyphs or other features that correlate to the brochures (particularly the old brochure).

From Marker #3 (Wpt. M03), the route turns left to run north past a series of marked boulders (Site 4, Site 5, Site 6, Site 7) to Marker #8 (Wpt. M08), with directional arrows where necessary. From Site 8, the route turns left again and begins a "long" run to the west, past a short spur trail to Site 9, to a split boulder (Split Rock, Marker #10; Wpt. M10) on a low hilltop. From Split Rock, the route runs downhill to an old road and to a set of boulders just across the dirt road Marker #11 (Wpt. M11).

From Marker #11 (Wpt. M11), the route follows the old road south. Marker #12 (Wpt. M12) is near Marker #11, then Marker #13, Marker #14, and Marker #15 are along the old road. Marker #16 (Wpt. M16) is down the hillside below Markers #14 and #15.

From Marker #16 (Wpt. M16), the route runs southwest, crosses the entrance road, passes the Stacked Boulders, and continues about 30 yards to a heavily marked, low boulder (Marker #17; Wpt. M17). The route then returns to the Stacked Boulders and recrosses the access road to a boulder on the east edge of the road (Marker #18; Wpt. M18). After visiting the boulder at Marker #18, which is just a landmark (no petroglyphs), the route follows the access road or the old road back to the trailhead (Marker #1; Wpt. M01).

In the old brochure, Marker #18 is a reference point for Shaman Vista, which is the first high ridge east of the petroglyph area. Shaman Vista wasn't a living area like the petroglyph sites, but rather a lookout and a place where people congregated to work on stone tools.