Testimony of Windy Scotty

(Really just an interesting result from a "hunting blinds and rock piles" Google Search and a really interesting blog found at http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/)

Images of the Volcanic Tableland (February 10, 2012):

http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/images-of-the-volcanic-tableland/

Owens Valley Petroglyphs ~ http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/owens-valley-petroglyphs/

hunting blind ~ http://windyscotty.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pic00001-medium1.jpg

This is nearby Sky Rock:  Photo by Mikhail Rezhepp

Scotty says in a different post { http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/hiking-in-the-chalk-bluffs/} that again features Sky Rock: "The drive along the river goes through an archeological treasure trove. Numerous petroglyphs, food grinding areas, rock shelters and hunting blinds attest to the fact that many thousands of people lived there in ancient times. There are probably more archeological sites in this area than most places in the nation. The same situation exists six or seven hundred feet up from the river on the rim of the Chalk Bluffs. The entire area is like one gigantic prehistoric food processing plant. And Sky Rock, the giant petroglyph panel that faces the heavens, is its center of the universe..."

Old Benton Hot Springs (August 14, 2012)

http://windyscotty.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pic00009-medium.jpg

Scotty writes: "Over the years I have observed Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra from every shore in every kind of weather-from the mirror calm of a bright orange sunrise to the violent churning foam of a turbulent, green sea. And always, the choking alkaline dust blows on the east side of the lake creating great clouds of toxic dust. Mono Lake is ever changing and provides a lot of life from such an ancient dead sea.

Paiute people harvested the high protein fly larvae that were wind driven onto the shore in great piles. In all the surrounding hills were pine nut trees and large game, while along the streams, riparian plants flourished. The islands provided an unlimited supply of sea gull eggs and birds to hunt. In summer, the door was open to the Sierra backcountry for the people to return to like they had for centuries. Back and forth they would go following the trans-Sierra trade routes or fleeing the cavalry in historic times.

John Muir thought Mono Lake was quite a sight when he came over Bloody Canyon from Yosemite and saw it for the first time. He complained about how dirty the Indians were in such a clean environment. Mark Twain had a whale of a time when he got caught in a storm on the lake and barely made it to shore. He had a lot of nasty things to say about how the water in the lake would peel off skin, but the lake was actually a popular water ski spot in the 60s. You know how Twain liked to exaggerate… The north side of the lake has sand dunes with a scattering of Pinyon and Juniper trees leading up to the hills where the Indians gathered nuts in the fall. There are springs and small creeks that draw more wildlife than in other parts of the lake…" http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/mono-lake-memories/

Windy Scotty also has some entries about: the “Arborglyphs of the Eastern Sierra:”

    "It was purely by chance that I stumbled across one of my greatest discoveries in life, the arborglyphs of the Eastern Sierra. I started out hunting for pioneer and Indian relics as a young boy and was fascinated by the history of the West. I still go back to those boyhood days every time I go out exploring with my dog. It makes me feel like a school kid on Saturday morning.

I walked by the silent tree carvings for twenty five years not knowing they were there watching me from their tree trunks..."  http://windyscotty.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/arborglyphs-of-the-eastern-sierra-3/