Hiked May 17, 2026. Twentieth hike of the year. This was supposed to be part of a dark sky weekend, where I was going to try an extended period of astrophotography. However, for various reasons, I ended up not even setting up the telescopes.
I arrived at the Ferguson Group campground about 6pm on May 16. But my group had already vacated the site, due to anticipated poorer seeing conditions. And, for various reasons, I wasn't up for setting up and camping there by myself, so I drove back down to 395, and booked a reservation once I had a signal. Once i was checking my messages, I also discovered that I had been at the right place on the right date, but the friends had already vacated.
So I checked in, moved some stuff up, and microwaved my dinner. Took an evening walk around the motel, to reach my step count. That's the two shots at the end of this post, so they would have been May 16, 2026, but not an actual hike. Pretty, though.
After I got back, I did some Internet searching to decide on my morning hike. The plan was going to be for a short hike among the Volcanic Tablelands in the morning, then resting up, and taking a longer hike into the eastern Sierra in the afternoon, once the light turned golden.
On Sunday morning, May 17, 2026, I got a relatively early start, leaving the motel before 7am, and got back, just before 10am. The goal was "skyrock" and then what ever else I could find.
I had read that my intended trailhead was some distance past "Happy Boulders," off Chalk Cliff Road. Turns out my gps actually knew how to get to "Happy Boulders," so I followed those directions, then just continued past, looking for a parking area with a trail heading up into the Volcanic Tablelands.
A good part of the road out here is dirt, and somewhat washboarded. Still easily managed by a typical sedan, if you find the right speed to go and the right lines for the washboarding.
Turns out there's a portapotty at "Happy Boulders," by the way, so you may have one restroom option between Bishop and the Volcanic Tablelands. I didn't notice any actual signage calling this place, "Happy Boulders," though, so you'll just have to know it, when you see it.
I think it's likely that you could hike up the trail near Happy Boulders, then just wandered to the west. But because I wasn't sure, I just continued on Chalk Cliff Road until I found the next small parking area, with a distinct trail head up the cliff.
The trail up is short and steep, but easier coming down than I expected it would be. Great views over the winding waterways south of the Volcanic Tablelands on the way up, as well as views of the Sierra, to your west, and the White Mountains, to your east.
Once at the top of the highlands, there's a line of boulders to your right. As I undestood it, skyrock would be visible from somewhere at the top of that mesa, looking downward, so I intended to find a way up to the top of those boulders, and keep peeking back over to the west, looking for Skyrock.
The strategy proved sufficient. After checking between various rocks, I finally did find the skyrock petroglyph, pictured at the top. I continued poking around these rocks. Just east of the boulders, by the way, maybe 1/8 of a mile from the southern cliff, was a jeep or atv trail, with a turnaround area. The trail came from the north. Just before the turnout area was a small wide area for parking or turning around. The Skyrock was not too far from that area.
Across the jeep trail, and across the arroyo, was another set of boulders. A relatively distinct use trail lead across the arroyo, to where I could see some ambiguous markings on those rocks -- maybe indigenous, maybe not.
Near those ambiguous markings was another rock face, with what looks like bullet markings all over. Thirteen Moons was right near that.
So I'm not providing gps coordinates, but this should get you close enough to find the petroglyphs. It's actually more fun, this way, when you "discover" them only with a little bit of effort on your part.
In retrospect, I learned that you'd either want to get here shortly after sunrise, or in the early afternoon, to put both sets of petroglyphs either fully in sun or fully in shadow.
With lots of wandering and crisscrossing, I made a bit over three miles of walking for the morning, so enough to qualify as a formal "hike."
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