Between Ridgecrest and Trona, there are the Fish Rocks -- an outcropping of stones painted with eyes and teeth -- in Poison Canyon, not far from the turn-off for the Trona Pinnacles. Some call them the "Whale Rocks," but they're more commonly the "Fish Rocks" or "Fish Head Rocks."
Poison Canyon, officially Salt Wells Canyon, was plagued with graffiti (and still is). The Fish Rocks came about some time in the 1930s or '40s (some claim even earlier, 1928) and became a favored landmark with the locals. When the heads were painted over in colors meant to match the pinks and beiges of the natural stone, along with the rest of the graffiti, the people of Ridgecrest and Trona became infuriated with the loss of their bizarre, though beloved Fish Heads. Someone repainted the eyes and teeth about a year later and this time they stuck and became protected.
The Fish Heads can be seen off Highway 178. There are a couple dirt road pull-offs on the western side and you can walk right up to them. Though there is some graffiti on the surrounding rocks (a Mercedes sign I'm sure was meant to be peace, for example), but the Fish Heads are pristine. They're pretty trippy in person. The eyes and teeth are only painted on one side -- you only really see them heading northbound, from Ridgecrest to Trona.
My boyfriend's dad was saying his friends used to throw beer bottles at them as they drove back to Ridgecrest from the factory in Trona at the end of the day. Back then the highway went right beside them. A dirt road goes right by them, but is broken up into a wash.
Listed in: Roadside Cali
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