Deep in the wilderness of Joshua Tree National Park is a site that I call the Sky Cross Pictographs. This is a rather large rock shelter with unusual red lines painted across a domed ceiling. The lines form arches across the ceiling, reminding me of the night sky. There is even a small sun glyph on the eastern wall. I think a few of the other small designs could also be stellar constellations. Near the rear of the room, a small tunnel leads into another chamber with only a couple of very faint pictographs. This is Serrano and Cahuilla territory, and I wonder if any other similar panels of broad bands of pictographs exist.
![](https://www.starbuck.org/content/images/2023/10/IMG_0656.jpg)
![](https://www.starbuck.org/content/images/2023/10/IMG_0687.jpg)
![](https://www.starbuck.org/content/images/2023/10/DS_20161119_111858_YDT.jpg)
![](https://www.starbuck.org/content/images/2023/10/DS_20161119_112115_CRGB.jpg)
If you do go out in search of this site, you’ll have to scramble over large granite boulders, evade thorny bushes, dodge some spiny cacti, and navigate a seemingly endless labyrinth of granite boulders and washes. The trek took us all day and wasn’t easy.
I visited this site with my friends over at Peregriff.com. Check out their wonderfully detailed report of the site.
No directions to this site.