Indian Rock
| Pictographs are a type of aboriginal artwork painted onto rock surfaces using dyes most commonly obtained from vegetable sources. (Contrast this with petroglyphs, which are carved into a rock surface.) There are a number of these priceless artifacts scattered through Idaho, and among the best known are those on Indian Rock, located at the northern end of Kalispell Bay on Priest Lake. |
| Above you will see a photo of Indian Rock, with the pictographs visible as mostly red figures located on the light-colored granite on the left side of the outcropping (see the smaller photo below for a close-up view of these figures). No one knows what message these images are meant to convey, although there are some mentions of them recording the death of a young priest who intervened between two quarreling Indians and was thrown from the rock (I can find no evidence to back up that claim). Ongoing research seems to indicate that the pictographs are the work of the Kalispel tribe. The Kalispels made frequent journeys to to the Priest Lake area throughout its history to hunt game, fish, and gather berries. |
| The pictographs are best viewed by boat. Although Indian Rock is a popular site for jumping into the water, it is requested that visitors remain in their vessel, as the area in the immediate vicinity of the pictographs is a sensitive anthropological and historical site. |
Close-up of Pictographs
To log this cache, please take a photo of yourself with the pictographs visible in the background, and post it with your log. For privacy purposes, it is not necessary to show your face unless you wish to.
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Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.