Grimes Point Petroglyphs: A Respectful RV Traveler's Guide

The boulders here are coated in a glossy black patina called desert varnish, and ancient people pecked and carved images through that dark surface to make the petroglyphs you can still see today. A quarter-mile self-guided interpretive trail — built by the Youth Conservation Corps and named Nevada's first National Recreation Trail in 1978 — leads past examples of the rock art.

Just beyond Grimes Point, Hidden Cave was formed roughly 21,000 years ago by the waves of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The cave can only be entered on a scheduled BLM tour, not on your own.

This is a fragile, irreplaceable cultural place. The BLM asks every visitor to stay on the trail and, in its own words, to 'take nothing but photographs' — please do not touch, chalk, create rubbings of, or otherwise damage the petroglyphs. The oils on our hands and any contact can permanently harm rock art that has survived for thousands of years.

For RV travelers, Grimes Point is an easy, dignified introduction to Great Basin rock art — a place to slow down, read the interpretive signs, and leave it exactly as you found it for the generations who come after.