Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument  

Santa Rosa and San Jacinta Mountains National Monument, California

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor center

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument

Indian Canyons

Fern Canyon

the Garstin/Wildhorse Garstin

the Garstin/Wildhorse Garstin

the Garstin/Wildhorse Garstin

Santa Rosa Mountains

Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa

Lute Fault Scarp from the North with Coyote Mountain in the Distance - http://www.abdnha.org/pages/06_exploring/north/mines/lute.htm

White Wash flows from the Santa Rosas Down into Horse Canyon -http://www.abdnha.org/pages/06_exploring/north/native/cahuilla.htm

Rock Art: The Anza-Borrego Desert''s Forgotten Artist - http://www.abdnha.org/04rockart_main.htm - Not only is the quanity of rock art in Anza-Borrego exceptional, but the variety and quality are impressive

Rituals and Ceremonies recorded on stone

Simple bold line drawings of shaman-artists

A glimmer of the symbols'' meaning comes from the outline of a bird, drawn in black. According to Kumeyaay legend, a beautiful bird lived here in the waters of the spring, but it was a spirit that could be seen only in a vision

Lizard was a sacred figure in Indian mythology

This rock art may have been associated with girls'' initiation ceremonies. Paintings at the conclusion of the rites of passage reaffirmed the final lessons of the ceremonies

Santa Rosa Mountains

Mountains of the Northern Reaches of Anza-Borrego

Spring Wildflowers and Sunrise Alpenglow on Santa Rosa Mountains, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California

Carrizo Canyon

Tahquitz Canyon - the local Cahuilla Indians

the falls above the Tahquitz Canyon Visitor Center

the Tahquitz Canyon

the Chuparosa bushes - the Tahquitz Canyon

the Tahquitz Canyon

the Tahquitz Canyon

the Tahquitz Canyon

the Tahquitz Canyon

the Tahquitz Canyon

Aqua Caliente Indian Reservation

Indian Palm Canyons

Indian Palm Canyons

Agua Caliente Hot Spring (Agua Caliente Cultural Museum)- http://www.accmuseum.org/Hot-Spring-101

Tahquitz Falls (Agua Caliente Indian Reservation

Andreas Canyon

Dry Oasis, the Fern Canyon Trail

Wild Horse Trail while hiking along the Garstin Trail.

Springtime blooms along the Randall Henderson Trail, one of the few trails accessed from the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument visitor center

Chuckwalla, Palm canyon

Murray Canyon

Andreas Canyon

Rock Art

Andreas Canyon

West Fork Trail

Palm Oasis

West Fork Waterfall

Peninsular Bighorn Sheep

Least Bells Vireo

Indian Canyon, a kangaroo rat?

http://williadg.blogspot.com/2007/11/california-russians-ferns-and-bugeaters.html - california russia - http://williadg.blogspot.com/2007/11/california-russians-ferns-and-bugeaters.html

An easy walk from County Road S-22, the Lute Fault Escarpment is a pile of hard-packed rock and sand more than two miles long. It is the longest and (from the north side as pictured above) tallest of a number of fault scarps to the southeast along the Clark Earthquake Fault

Over millions of years, storms have eroded the sides of the Santa Rosa Mountains causing rocks and sand to pile up on the fault. The earth has moved as earthquakes have taken place, and the sand piles have been hardened and stretched into escarpments, or scarps.

If you study the habits of wildflowers and you visit in wildflower season, you might find it interesting to compare the flowers you see on the scarp with the flowers you see in the mountains.

Getting to Lute Fault Scarp. Drive 10 miles east of Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs on County Road S-22 and park at Call Box S22-319. The Truckhaven Trail, now a jeep road, enters the parking area from the west. The Thimble Trail begins just across S-22 on the south.

There is no path to the Lute Fault Scarp. Merely aim for the large ridge to the east of Clark Valley. You will pass the long Lute Fault Scarp on your left. From this side, you will find an easy trail of a few steps to put you on top of the fault scarp. From there, you can look back for an idea as to how the sand flowed out of the mountains. Walk around to the north side of the fault scarp to get the best picture of its size.

To see other fault scarps, look along the Thimble Trail or the Truckhaven Trail

When the Mountain Cahuilla left the Santa Rosas, they unfortunately left little or no evidence of their village sites. While anthropologists have been able to conduct interviews and write several good books on Mountain Cahuilla life, the visitor to their territory can for the most part only imagine what it took to survive here.

The trails would have been trade routes. We know that the village of Natcuta stood somewhere near where White Wash (pictured above) joins Horse Canyon. The village of Ataki was about 10 tough miles up White Wash, over the mountains, and down to Hidden Spring in Jackass Flat. The village of Pauki, through which Anza passed on his marches to Monterey and San Francisco, was less than three miles from where the picture was taken. It would have been easier to walk down Horse Canyon from Natcuta to Coyote Canyon and villages there.

Schad identifies Alcoholic Pass as an original Indian route. Hikers who walk up Palo Verde Wash past the Moly mine to the Natural Sheep Tanks cross the old Cahuilla trail to Wonderstone Wash which leads to further Cahuilla trails.

It goes without saying that trails connected the villages of Natcuta in Horse Canyon, Pauki near Anza, Wiliya and Nauhanavitcem in Fig Tree Valley, Tcia near Alder Canyon, Pat-cha-wal or San Ignacio, Hokwitka on the Middle Fork of Borrego Palm Canyon, and Ho-la-kal or San Ysidro on San Ysidro Creek on the west slope of San Ysidro Mountain.

The Indians of the Anza-Borrego Desert, the Cahuilla, Cupeo, Diegueo, and Kumeyaay, left a legacy of religion, mythology and social customs. They also left a legacy of art: an open-air gallery of rock art. These petroglyphs and pictographs are eyewitness accounts, vivid on-the-scene reports that give us some idea of what was important to the people who once inhabited this desert.

The rock drawings speak of the soul of man, of his religion and mythology and his inner feelings about the spirits and the universe. Rock art is a testimony of ceremonies, of important historical occasions, as well as of the fears and joys of life. Rock art is also symbolic communication conveying powerful images of the supernatural; it is a mirror, reflecting the complexity of human culture and the intricacies of the mind.

Rock art speaks of the forgotten artist of the Anza-Borrego Desert. Forgotten in the sense that his works of art, displayed on the surfaces of rocks have only in the last twenty-five years been rediscovered and systematically studied.

One thing the reader will not find on this Web site is a detailed description of rock art locations within the Anza-Borrego Desert. It is best to leave them in their sacred obscurity. For those who hike and explore this beautiful desert, a chance find of rock art can heighten the wilderness experience. If you find a remnant of these treasures, we ask you to respect it. It may have little meaning to the viewer, but it is part of the Native American heritage, which is quickly fading away. It is truly art. Much of it was sacred. Treat it with reverence.

http://www.abdnha.org/04rockart_main.htm

http://www.malkimuseum.org/

http://www.abdnha.org/03flower_main.html

http://www.abdnha.org/pages/06_exploring/north/drivehike/anza.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonqueta/sets/72157625488038015/detail/?page=2 - masquite flat spring


Evidence suggests that precipitation on the San Jacinto mountain range, seeping into a fractured, granitic basement complex, is the source of the Agua Caliente Hot Springs waters. The Hot Spring may also be associated with seismic faulting, as its orifice has been known to change locations following earthquakes.

Uniquely situated in the heart of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation on a square mile called Section 14, the Hot Spring was known as Sec-he (boiling water) to Cahuilla-speaking people and as Agua Caliente (hot water) to early Spanish-speaking expeditions to the area. Today it is located underground near the corner of Tahquitz Canyon Way and Indian Canyon Drive its waters collected and diverted to a spa facility in the same location. The Hot Spring''s waters remain popular

http://www.accmuseum.org/Wahaatukicnikic -Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/california-tahquitz-falls.html - Tahquitz Falls

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
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Santa Rosa Mountains
Plant Guide to Art Smith Trail (old section), Santa Rosa Mountains
Tahquitz Canyon

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