Fieldtrips
Indian Rock
Spring 2003

Hidden Meadows
Fall 2003

The Glens
Fall 2003

Legend Rock
Fall 2003

Camp Pendleton
Spring 2002

Gathering Juncus
Spring 2002

Field Tripping
Spring 2002
PDF version: fast connection

Waterfall
Fall 2003

Legend Rock
Text by Deborah Small
Images by David Fleischman, Deborah Small

Legend Rock is a monumental boulder that juts out from the top of a hill above Hidden Meadows, a huge development of tract homes, as well as an ancient Luiseño village site. We cautiously scramble on all fours up the narrow and precipitous path to Legend Rock, our cameras dangling precariously from our necks.

From the Legend Rock site, we have an panoramic view of the surrounding area. We strain our eyes to see the pictographs that Mark Mojado tells us were once here. After staring at the granitic surface for a while, perhaps we see the crosshatchings and diamond-shaped patterns familiar to us from Indian Rock. Perhaps not. But imagining the diamond-shaped designs reminds us to watch for rattlesnakes that may be guarding the rock.

According to Mark, many Luiseño people believe that power is concentrated in particular places, and Legend Rock is a particularly sacred and powerful site. The rock itself a source of power as well.

Southern California rock expert Ken Hedges studied the pictographs on Legend Rock before the designs had faded. He has speculated that the site was used for ceremonial purposes by a shaman. According to Hedges, the pictographs were drawn on the rock to contact cosmic energies, to communicate with the spirit world, and to understand the language of animals, birds, trees, stars.

Mark teaches us to pay attention to the visible details of the Legend Rock site, but also to its ineffable qualities as well. After photographing the ghosted pictographs, we make a joint decision to descend from the Legend Rock site along a less steep path. The barely perceptible path is densely overgrown with black sage, manzanita, and other sage scrub plants which we imagine, with rattlesnake, are guarding Legend Rock.