RETURN TO FORTY MILE CANYON

An overcast and threatening sky met the Nevada Test Site bound SNRAE group as they gathered in the early morning light at the DOE building on Industrial Way. The group was semi-seriously pessimistic about the chance for rain in the day to come. I was lightly scolded for carelessly mentioning that I had sunscreen along. On the drive up to Mercury, Nancy Wier passed around photos from the March trip to Forty Mile Canyon and another trip she had taken to the Mt. Schader rock art site. The group was getting pretty jazzed to see some rock art and the drive passed quickly.

In Mercury, each member of the group received an official Test Site I.D./radiation badge. A last second stop at the cafeteria in Mercury gave many a pleasant surprise. The vending machines there are probably the most affordable in Nevada. As we enjoyed 10 cent cups of coffee, many in the group noticed 25 cent ice cream sandwiches and made mental notes to have change ready on the return journey.

As we drove past Frenchman and Yucca Flats, Darwin Morgan (a DOE public relations worker who volunteered to escort the group) kept us entertained with stories of the colorful history of the Nevada Test Site, from Native Americans to the Manly Party to crowds of celebrities watching above ground nuclear blasts. The scenery was breathtaking as we drove onto Pahute and Buckboard Mesas; where cliffs of light colored tuff, several steep-sided volcanic cones, and dark rimrock vistas abide.

Just before dropping into Forty Mile Canyon, we got out of the bus and crowded into three state trucks- driven by Desert Research Institute Archaeologists Alvin McLane, Harold Drollinger, and Greg Haynes- that ferried us the last several miles to the end of the road. The half mile hike to the rock art concentration proved to be pleasantly distracting as we stopped to view several "warm-up" petroglyph panels, which by themselves would be a worthy destination. The group had spread out quite a bit by the time we reached Big George Cave (a cave used by "George" in about the 1920's which is surprisingly dug out and roomy). This cave would be our base camp where trip participants could fan out as they so desired to view the rock art ant to take in the beautiful Great Basin scenery.

Across from the cave, an old highway sign in the shape of the state of Nevada read: "STATE RESERVATION - PERSONS REMOVING RELICS OR DEFACING INSCRIPTIONS WILL BE PROSECUTED". Although bullet holes obscured parts of the sign, they were rusty and appeared to be frozen in time- their oldness testifies to the protection this site has received from vandals since it has been closed to the public after creation of the Test Site. While some parts of Pahute Mesa have large amounts of fresh rockfall from underground blasts and the resultant ground shaking waves, this area has escaped this and the site appears to be in good shape.

Those who were feeling peppy enough scrambled 500+ feet up a steep talus and sage slope to several sites on the rimrock directly above the cave. At a notch in the rim, there were several fine scratched and pecked panels which have a dramatic view of the surrounding country. A couple hundred feet to the right was a particularly large and intricate scratched panel on a smooth reddish surface. To the left of the notch was a striking solitary anthropomorph. Along the top of the rim a series of rock cairns are perched precariously close to the edge.

Those who stayed below and across the wash had more time to investigate the dense concentration of rock art on the slopes above Big George Cave. Someone discovered the two bighorn sheep which Alvin had mentioned we should be on the lookout for on our March trip here (I don't think anyone found the sheep on that trip). The sheep revealed themselves dimly on the side of the rock that has what ended up to be the SNRAE logo glyph on top of it. We saw several mysterious and fragile rock alignments on a bench above the wash on the way back to the trucks.

After everyone had staggered back to the trucks and piled back into the bus, after we had driven past concrete buildings that had strangely symmetrical holes blown out of the side of them, after we had gone past what appeared to be a simulated P.O.W. camp, or possibly a foreign prison, which has a collapsed guard tower with a dummy leaning out the window, after many of us had one or two of those ever so tasty ice cream sandwiches- a wave of contentment spread over the bus. We had been privileged to see a spectacular rock art site in a sublime and long forbidden setting. It had been a good day. Many in the group napped as the bus took us back to Las Vegas.