“It was the Indians’ way to pass through a country without disturbing anything; to pass and leave no trace, like a fish through the water or birds through the air.”
It’s hard to shake Willa Cather’s beautiful quote from your mind as you explore Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, because this place is a clear exception to that rule. The largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America, this 135-acre park near Volcano, in Amador County, boasts an epic outcropping of marbleized limestone with 1,185 mortar holes that have been decorated with intricate carvings of circles, spoked wheels, wavy lines and animal tracks.
Certainly this is one place where the Native Americans left their mark, a reminder of a now forgotten way of life. Nestled in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, the grinding rock is the perfect place to mine a rich vein of California history and culture.
Indeed, this massive bedrock mortar is quite a rarity. It’s one of only two known examples of a grinding rock bedecked with art in North America. The other is much smaller, so this is the mother lode if you are interested in exploring the origins and roots of American stone art.
A grinding rock has always been a community center, a place where women went to prepare food, patiently pounding acorns into meal as they chatted. It’s not usually also an art gallery. This one was part kitchen and part museum.
Flanked by stately valley oaks, majestic trees that can live up to 600 years, these colossal rock formations dazzle the eye with their round and oval holes. Look hard enough and you also can see a fascinating assortment of petroglyphs, estimated to be as much as 3,000 years old.
Go early in the day for bright light, which will give you the best shot at spotting these designs, many quite faded by time. It’s best to take a chart with you — pick up one at the park’s Chaw’se Regional Indian Museum before you set off down the trail — so you know just what to look for. Squinting also helps. Cryptic messages from the past, these images are slowly vanishing before our eyes. Someday soon they may have disappeared completely.
Once the shade begins to gather along the rock, it’s quite a feat to make out the sundial formations and the strange gridlike patterns but the challenge is part of the fun, particularly for children who have no trouble using their imaginations to “see” all sorts of pictures amid the mortar cups.
There is one central area, with a viewing deck built over its 363 petroglyphs, as well as several smaller formations, one covered with long undulating wavy lines. Some attribute this stone art to the Miwok tribe, who still consider this area sacred and often hold community gatherings in the nearby Round House, a ceremonial hub. Others suspect the petroglyphs were carved long before the Miwok moved in, perhaps by an ancient people we know nothing about. Who these artists were and where they went remains a puzzle for anthropologists to solve.
The provenance may remain a mystery, but there’s no denying the allure of the formations. Even a child can sense the power emanating from this rock, although it’s hard to keep little ones from scampering atop it and that’s forbidden. The marble grinding rock may look formidable and strong, but it is surprisingly fragile, vulnerable to the elements of sun and rain and easily marred by chipping. It’s actually a relic that will one day, inevitably, be lost to time.
That’s part of the allure of this park, which combines inviting open meadows, meandering trails and picnic spots with an invigorating history lesson. Make time for the museum with its intriguing exhibits of Miwok artifacts and crafts, including arrowpoints, basketry and feather regalia, not to mention a gift shop brimming with tempting local jewelry and gorgeous plush stuffed animals (my little one got a jaunty green hummingbird).
You can also wander through some lovely trails, spotting wildflowers and jackrabbits, northern flickers and hermit thrushes, as you learn about the Miwok way of life, from their rituals to their sports. There’s a reconstruction of a Miwok village, which includes the 60-feet-wide Round House, bark houses, acorn granaries and a field for a highly-athletic courtship game that sounds like part soccer, part football and part OK Cupid.
Still it’s those beguiling works of art that will linger in your mind’s eye long after your visit to the grinding rock.
IF YOU GO
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is located in the Sierra foothills 12 miles east of Jackson, near the town of Volcano. The park is open for day-use ($8 per car) from sunrise to sunset daily. The Chaw’se Regional Indian Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Upcoming special events include the Big Time, a ceremony held at the end of September each year, which brings Native American families together for the annual acorn gathering, with dancing, singing and storytelling. The general public is welcome to watch, but please ask for permission before photographing anyone.
Find information, directions and more at http://www.parks.ca.gov.
