Toquima Cave

Please note: Actual driving distance is about 18 miles

Toquima Cave is an extraordinary Great Basin Native American archaeological site.  Toquima Cave’s walls and ceiling are covered with pictographs in a variety of abstract and geometric designs painted with white, red, yellow, and black pigments.  The meanings of these ancient designs may be as ceremonial markers, depictions of hallucinations, and art.  Western Shoshone Indians historically occupied this region, and their ancestors most likely painted the Toquima Cave pictographs.

Toquima Cave is located in a basalt outcrop on the east side of Pete’s Summit in the Toquima Range about 12 miles to the east.  The cave is accessed by a half-mile hiking trail from the US Forest Service Toquima Cave Campground.  In order to protect the pictographs from vandalism, visitors are separated from the cave walls by a cage-like structure.

HISTORICAL MARKER NO.136                                                                                                                                                                      

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE