Overview

The Crystal Wash Main rock art site is an area of desert-varnished boulders along a sandy wash and on a hillside above the wash. Above the wash, ancient people stayed in the area for long periods of time, probably living here during winters. While here, they flaked a stones, built fires, broke ceramic vessels, and etched the rocks with representational (e.g., bighorn sheep and human figures) and abstract images.

The BLM and Lincoln County opened this area to the public, and Lincoln County printed a brochure with information about the site (including GPS coordinates) as part of their Get Primitive tourism campaign. Download the brochure from Lincoln County or snatch a copy here.

Link to Wide Area Map or Site Map.

Location

Crystal Wash Main rock art site is located beyond the Pahranagat Valley about 110 miles north of Las Vegas on Highway 93.

From town, drive north on Interstate 15 to US Highway 93 (Table 1, Site 0674). Exit onto Highway 93 and drive north past Alamo and Ash Springs to the intersection of Highways 93 and 318 (Site 0677). Continue on Highway 93 for 4.06 miles to a large dirt parking area on the left (north) side of the road (Site 1099).

In the dirt parking area, a barbed-wire gate (Site 1100) blocks the access road. Open the barbed-wire gate, drive through, and close it behind you. Stay left and proceed 100 yards to another fork in the road (Site 1101). Turn right and follow the two-track road to the parking area (Site 1102), which is just before reaching the broad, sandy wash in the bottom of the valley. The sign-in register is adjacent to the parking area. Park here; this is the trailhead.

Details of the access road are presented here.

Hours

The area is always open, but it probably should be considered day-use only. There are no established camping areas.

Fees

None.

Note: In this area, gasoline is available only in Alamo and Ash Springs.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 10), the route (no established trail) runs northeast about 30 feet to the sign-in register (Wpt. 11), then another 30 feet to a boulder with Marker #1 (Wpt. 12). From there, the route heads over to the wash and follows it downstream for about 0.27 miles to a large boulder in the wash (Wpt. 13). Surprisingly, this well-marked boulder does not have a marker, and therefore hints at the riches to be found off the beaten path.

From this boulder, the route turns south into a boulder field where two areas have site markers (Wpt. 14, Marker 02; Wpt.15, Marker 03).

Winding around the boulder pile at Marker 03, the route heads west towards tall, upright boulders on the skyline across the wash and up on a low hill. The boulders are Marker 04 (Wpt. 16) and make for a good landmark. Immediately to the left (east) of the Marker-04 boulders, Marker 05 (Wpt. 17) is an unusual site because petroglyphs are marked on flat-ish bedrock.

Doubling back and continuing northwest past Marker 04, the route runs along a wall of cliffs to Marker 06 (Wpt. 18). Following the wall another 100 yards, the route turns north towards a remarkable panel with several humanoid figures. Along the way to the panel, the route passes a north-facing rock shelter (Marker 07; Wpt. 19) with pictographs. The humanoid panel (Marker 08; Wpt. 20) is the most remarkable panel in the area.

Around behind the humanoid panel, the route passes another nice petroglyph panel (Marker 09; Wpt. 21) and then another shelter site (Marker 10; Wpt. 22) a bit more around the corner.

Marker 10 is the last marked site. From there, the route runs down the gentle hillside and back into the wash at the first big boulder (Wpt. 13) encountered on the way into the area. The route then runs back up the wash to the trailhead (Wpt. 10).