Jack-in-the-Box!: Great Basin National Park Pictographs and Utah Rainbows

On Sunday I went to the Great Basin National Park, just on the border of Nevada and Utah. I liked this park because there was no entry fee (unlike most of the ones throughout the nation) and the scenery and cultural history are amazing. I was mostly interested in the pictographs inside a small cave just inside the park, but in the end I decided to drive up to Wheeler Peak, which still had some snow in the Alpine region from this past winter! On the drive to the park, I stopped at the Baker Archaeological Site, which is an occupation site attributed to the Fremont Culture of the the Southwest, people who were contemporaries of the Anasazi. There wasn't much there to see, as no reconstruction has been done, only preservation, and of course, it was dug in the mid-nineties by archaeologists. Some of the pictographs inside the park are uncommon, as there are images of several couples holding hands, leading me to believe the site was a marriage spot or a spot of sacred communion. Check out the pics, they are pretty cool! :)

This was the information sign at Baker Archaeological Site, just outside the park. The trail guide mentions that this culture is named for various sites around the Fremont River, in Utah. "Fremont" sites share similarities in pottery styles and materials, techniques, and ceremonial artwork. The left no record of language and they didn't uncover and human remains at this particular site so no one know if and whom their descendants might be.

A small adobe structure, protected with backfill from the 1991-1994 excavations. This is about all that remains at Baker. They did uncover some artifacts-mostly projectile points, pottery sherds, figure fragments, pendants and shell beads, and a famous owl effigy artifact (or pendant-I'm not sure what it is)...

And I reckon this is a Gila Monster. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but he was soft and cute. Could easily fit in the palm of my hand, but he didn't like to be held very much. :P

Some faded pictographs at upper pictograph cave in Great Basin National Park.

If you look closely, under the red pictograph spots, you can see the figure of an anthropomorph, bearing the horns of a shaman. It's really faded, as you can see, the water runs down the side of the cliff.