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The Guided Hike w/ the Chumash Museum
Saturday, March 28th. was the day I had scheduled the Guided Hike through the Chumash Indian Museum, located west of me in Thousand Oaks. the plan was to have 10 folks go and divy up the $100 cost for the hike. only 4 of us made it, so Me -and- my cousin Christine covered the difference - no big deal because you'll see it was well worth the extra bucks...
WE arrived before 10 Am and meet our guide, Gray Wolf, a full blooded Apache, not a Chumash, but that's o.k... Our group consisted of my cousin Christine (she's gone with me on The Coso Petroglyph hike), my friend Christina (she's the driving force behind the Santa Susana Field labs being made into a National Monument) And Her husband Michael. we headed up the canyon behind the Museum , which is located on the former Lang Ranch property in the Simi Hills.
first place we came to is a replica of a typical Chumash Village, there are 5 'Aps there, an 'Ap is the Chumash house made from Bull rushes and willow branches. here's one of them..
as we proceeded up the Canyon, Gray Wolf would point out various plants and describe how the Chumash utilized them. it was helpful for Me as i"ve read a good deal about them and now I can recognize them in the field.
Gray Wolf soon pointed out various small boulders with numerous cupulets peeked into the surfaces. He explained that such a stone is always found below a ceremonial cave. You were to leave offerings in the cupulets before climbing up to the cave.
Here's one of the cupulet stones..
and here's it's associated Ceremonial cave up the ridge
in this photo you see the Cupulet rock in the foreground and it's Cave behind it..
One cave that I wish to return to and see is called "Rattlesnake Cave" as there are Rattlesnake Pictographs inside it, Gray Wolf told me he would take me there . here is that cave, see it just below the top of the ridge???
we got to a point up the canyon, where Gray Wolf took us through a locked gate, we went down a slope and came to the first Pictograph. it is the locally well known SWORDFISH. He is found on an upright boulder on a concave surface of the boulder...
I've read about Swordfish numerous times and seen a number of photographs of him, but finally meeting him was great, Very cool indeed........
Cont'd......
WE arrived before 10 Am and meet our guide, Gray Wolf, a full blooded Apache, not a Chumash, but that's o.k... Our group consisted of my cousin Christine (she's gone with me on The Coso Petroglyph hike), my friend Christina (she's the driving force behind the Santa Susana Field labs being made into a National Monument) And Her husband Michael. we headed up the canyon behind the Museum , which is located on the former Lang Ranch property in the Simi Hills.
first place we came to is a replica of a typical Chumash Village, there are 5 'Aps there, an 'Ap is the Chumash house made from Bull rushes and willow branches. here's one of them..
as we proceeded up the Canyon, Gray Wolf would point out various plants and describe how the Chumash utilized them. it was helpful for Me as i"ve read a good deal about them and now I can recognize them in the field.
Gray Wolf soon pointed out various small boulders with numerous cupulets peeked into the surfaces. He explained that such a stone is always found below a ceremonial cave. You were to leave offerings in the cupulets before climbing up to the cave.
Here's one of the cupulet stones..
and here's it's associated Ceremonial cave up the ridge
in this photo you see the Cupulet rock in the foreground and it's Cave behind it..
One cave that I wish to return to and see is called "Rattlesnake Cave" as there are Rattlesnake Pictographs inside it, Gray Wolf told me he would take me there . here is that cave, see it just below the top of the ridge???
we got to a point up the canyon, where Gray Wolf took us through a locked gate, we went down a slope and came to the first Pictograph. it is the locally well known SWORDFISH. He is found on an upright boulder on a concave surface of the boulder...
I've read about Swordfish numerous times and seen a number of photographs of him, but finally meeting him was great, Very cool indeed........
Cont'd......
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