COLUMN: Trip of the week, Margo Bartlett Pesek

      Keyhole Canyon is a narrow niche carved from the granite rock of the Eldorado Mountains. Its steep walls rise from a bed of gravel washed from the mountains above by floodwaters. The twisty little canyon ends in the vertical drop of a dry waterfall, polished smooth by the runaway torrents often found there in rainy weather.
      It is a lovely spot. From the mouth of Keyhole Canyon, the view sweeps across a broad valley to serrated peaks of mountain ranges beyond the line marking U.S. Highway 95. Busy traffic speeds along this highway toward the turnoff to Laughlin, but distance mutes any sounds.
      Keyhole Canyon lies little more than a half-hour's drive from Las Vegas. Follow the expressway through the city toward Henderson. At Railroad Pass, turn off onto U.S. 95 south. Drive past the turnoff to Nelson about six miles where you will see an unmarked dirt road cutting to the left toward two sets of large power lines. The sandy side road takes you under the first power lines to the second set of lines. Turn right and follow the power-line road south. There will be a little spur road on the left that will take you up to the small parking lot.
      The entrance to the canyon is protected by a fence with a gate for foot traffic. Signs at the entrance notify visitors of the area's significance as an archaeological site. Protected on rock faces in or near this canyon are ancient Indian petroglyphs and pictographs. These rock writings were left by people hundreds of years ago. Their cryptic messages have yet to be completely deciphered. Little is known about the ancients who created these unique symbols, but the rock writings and paintings were old before Europeans first set foot upon this continent and the culture of those ancient ones disappeared.
      The petroglyphs are incised upon the dark stone flanking the entrance to the box canyon. Many are greatly faded by exposure to scouring sands over centuries. Fewer in number and far less durable are the pictographs, paints in natural pigments upon stone. In Keyhole Canyon, these rare art forms are found on the undersides of boulders and fallen rock slabs.
      Certain symbols of dots, lines and spirals must have had significance to those who took the time to leave them upon the stone, but we can only guess. Easier to understand is the meaning of the figures of recognizable animals such as the desert bighorn sheep still found in numbers in those mountains. The painted designs are similar to those pecked into the stone, but there is at least one human figure in rusty pigments that seems different from other creatures depicted.
      All ancient rock art is protected under the federal antiquities act, wherever they are found. Look at them and photograph them, but do not touch them or in any way deface or disturb them. Fragile remnants of a culture that appeared and disappeared long before our own, they are now part of our national cultural heritage, deserving of protection and respect.
      From the highway, Keyhole Canyon is not apparent, but the granite outcropping in the darker mountains is distinctive. Keep your eye on it as you approach and guess which fissure will turn out to be Keyhole Canyon. The little approach road will take you about five miles from the highway to the parking area. It is sandy, so drive carefully. It is passable for most passenger cars and trucks, but motor homes or cars towing trailers might have trouble. Getting stuck in the sand along the soft roadsides is the greatest hazard.
      For those who like to explore desert roads, the road along the power line south of Keyhole Canyon continues for several more miles. Eventually, it rejoins the highway. If you explore along this route, please close stock gates behind you if you must open any to go along.
      The little canyon is just a few hundred yards in length, an easy walk along the gravel of the canyon bottom. As you walk along, you may see evidence of rock climbers' activities or the climbers themselves. Keyhole Canyon is frequently used for practicing certain climbing techniques. The granite rock faces and chimneys found there give climbers a chance to experience surfaces other than the sandstone more commonly found in this region.