In the past I’ve come across quite a few Indian grinding rocks within hiking distance of my house, as well as some a bit farther away; the ones on both sides of the American River near the Lake Natoma Crossing come to mind.

South shore, near the Historic Folsom Powerhouse

North shore, beneath the bridge

But I was really surprised when I recently discovered a couple of holes even closer to where I live, very well hidden along an overgrown creek that empties into Lake Natoma. I’m not exactly sure now why I was poking around in the dry creek bed back in March of this year, except that I was reluctant to turn back after deciding the rough trail crossing the creek was too steep for me to climb. My way along the creek bed itself was blocked by giant and fairly slippery boulders; so I had no choice but to turn and retrace my steps — but then I glanced down, underneath those large boulders, and spotted two nearly perfect-looking holes in the bedrock, just out of my reach.

Creekbed is blocked by boulders behind me…

… and ahead of me

I tried to photograph them and didn’t do a very good job since I had very low-light conditions and was having trouble holding my camera steady while avoiding falling on my face. I was determined to go back and try again; but it took me until a couple of weeks ago to get back to the spot, this time with my camera attached to a light-weight tripod so that I could hold the camera horizontally over the holes.

Very nearly hidden by large boulders

I’m wondering if anyone else is even aware of the existence of these holes, and I’m honestly not sure who to ask. The only ones who I am certain know about the spot are the local mosquitoes, who viciously descended upon me while I was shooting my pictures. Since I’d been careful to spray my arms, legs, and neck with repellant, they zeroed in on my back — and they weren’t the least bit bothered by the presence of my tee shirt. Still, I was so pleased with my discovery and with how my images turned out that it was almost worth putting up with an itchy back for the next several days!