Giant Desert Figures

Giant Desert Figures.    The intriuging sign points up a gravel road leading into the desert.   Each time we’ve driven past I’ve wanted to explore, each time we’ve had the fifthwheel on the back, so not a good idea.

The Big Marias Area of Critical Environmental Concern is home to numerous rock art sites and also to geoglyphs, known as the Blythe Intaglios. 

Heading into the Big Maria Mountains.

Undiscovered until the first planes flew over the area, the age and meaning of the geoglyphs is unknown, lots of theories, but no-one actually knows. 

Similar geoglyphs exist in England, Australia, Peru and Chile but the only known ones in the US are at Blythe. 

The geoglyphs or ‘intaglios’ are created by scraping away surface gravel to reveal lighter gravel and soil underneath. 

As they’re delicate and easily damaged they are fenced, this human figure is 102ft from head to toe and its arms are almost 65ft long.

We found the other human figure, which is the longest and least disturbed, it’s just over 105ft from head to toe and it’s arms are nearly 92ft wide.  

Yes, this one is upside down, it was the only way I could photograph it without facing directly into the sun.

There are more figures including an animal one, but by then it was getting late so we never did find it.   Maybe next time. 

Have fun, we are!