- Location: Golden Valley Wilderness
- Travel Date: 4-19-2019
- Written: 6-3-2019
Written By: Melanie Flores
The Steam Wells Petroglyph site is located within the Golden Valley Wilderness area, north of the Red Mountains. The site features several large boulders on the hillsides that contain large collections of petroglyphs. It is believed that the petroglyphs were created by Shaman of the Kawaiisu people over 2000 years ago, which in that time occupied most of this area.
This site gets its name from the water well that is located not far from the petroglyph site. The well was drilled in the 1930’s by miners to help with their mining activities. Near the well are the remains of what used to be a miners stone cabin.
If you want to hike this trail make sure you grab your hiking boots and some water for you are about to hike in search of some petroglyphs. As you will not only have to hike about three quarters of a mile on a trail, but you will also have to do a little bit of boulder scrambling to see the petroglyphs. Before you reach your destination you must take your vehicle on an adventure on this bumpy dirt ride. When you first start your hike, you will know that you are on the right track because when the trail is first starting you there are rocks on the floor to help guide you. When you have hiked ¾ mile, you will come across a gate. Once you arrive at the site you will need to take a little detour off the trail to find the petroglyphs. As you go off trail and enter a bunch of grass you must scramble up to the boulders that are on your left to begin your petroglyph hunt. We found many petroglyphs and they were easy to find and get to. When you think that you have explored enough and are ready to head back, you must hike the same trail back and go on the same bumpy ride with your vehicle!
We went during the evening and we ended up seeing wildlife. On our way to find the petroglyphs we spotted a desert tortoise to which I named Baby Tortoise because it was a really small tortoise. When we were looking for petroglyphs my dad came across a rattlesnake and it was super fat but luckily it did not strike and he was not harmed. As we finished our exploration and were hiking back to my dad’s jeep, we came across another rattlesnake and according to my dad, it looked exactly like the other one, except that the other one was redder and this one that we saw was a little more colorless, but it was still fat. We also saw a lot of caterpillars and a lot of ant holes. Make sure to take lots of pictures if you visit.
