Did a trip from Kawishiwi Lake EP to Fishdance last month with my daughter. I wanted to see the pictographs (was somewhat motivated by One Match's song) and I figured we'd get some solitude there 'cause it's a dead-end lake. I was intrigued by the pictos and the 'vibe' of that place, so after we got back, I ordered the book "Magic on the Rocks" to get more info on the history and meaning of this ancient artwork. Although it's not known for sure why they're there and what they mean, Michael Furtman makes a strong case in his book that the pictos and their locations had spiritual significance to the people that created them.

The author took film photos of the pictos and did some post-processing using Photoshop, and in the book there are "cutouts" of the images in B&W, so you don't get a good feel for what they really look like.

I shot some photos of the pictographs with my Olympus TG-6, a "lifeproof" point-and-shoot. One of the outstanding features of this camera is that it has the option to shoot in uncompressed RAW format, which allows a lot of flexibility for post-processing in Photoshop.

My wife is a photographer so she did some post-processing of the images for me. She used three of my photos and did three versions of each. The first is unprocessed, basically what you'd see if you were in your canoe looking at them. The second is color-enhanced, so you can see a bit more of the detail. For the third, she removed all the color except for the color of the red paint (made with red ochre and rendered sturgeon spine). I'll follow this post with each group of three.

I posted this before, but I think it fits this thread. My daughter took some footage of the trip and created a video using a song she composed/performed as the soundtrack.

On page 154 of his book, Furtman describes these as follows:
"The most northerly group of symbols, found above a crooked horizontal crack that forms a shallow overhang, consists of (from left to right) a hand print near a red wash that may be a faint human-like shape; a canoe with two paddlers; and a possible moose. Above the moose is another possible human or Mamaygwashi, although parts seem to have flaked away,"
I see more than that here. Starting with the handprint (becoming obscured by the lichens), to the lower left looks like a human figure with horns or a headdress...my guess would be a Windigo. To the lower left of the figure is an indiscernible object (animal maybe?), to the lower right is another possible handprint or sun with rays, to the right of that is a possible hare (Nanabush reference?), and below that is a vertical eye shape with rays emanating from it, similar to the horizontal one located on another panel. On the top right is a human or possible bird flying upwards (thunderbird?) and below that is a bison-looking creature. Then there's other stuff there that's indiscernible. Quite a bit of the rock has flaked away; in his book Furtman asserts that these may be some of the oldest pictos in canoe country.

That sounds very cool. I am anxious to see how the photos compare.
I did a day trip from Alice to see them a couple years ago on a solo trip. That area is fantastic. The fact that we can still see them, even faded is an incredible opportunity.

Quoting Furtman, page 155:
"An isolated pictograph to the south consists of two tall, vertical lines with outward protrusions near the top. The two vertical lines are connected by two horizontal lines. These in turn are connected by three vertical lines. Dewdney reports that, upon showing a picture of this symbol to an Ojibwe from Red Lake, Ontario, he was told that it was a deadfall trap (a type of trap used to kill animals by dropping a heavy object - such as a log - upon them."

This one's really easy to see, so I only included the 'enhanced color' version.

Furtman, page 155
"The last panel contains mostly abstracts, although one symbol is a hand print, and to its right, another human or Maymaygwayshi. Both of these are difficult to see, but became clear in the computer. There is another glyph, sometimes desribed as an insect, that consists of a horizontal oval with short strokes radiating from both its top and bottom."
There's a lot going on in this panel. I took two photos of it, so there's six total images below. The first is above the second; there's a lobster-like image (bird, maybe?) below the "insect" that's in both images. On the left of the first, there's the "insect" (my wife thought it might represent people sitting at a table). Above and to the right of the "insect" is what looks like maybe a fish swimming downwards. Below and to the right of the "insect" is a deer with most of its body flaked away, then below that is the "lobster-bird".
In the second image, the "lobster-bird" is in the upper left. In the ochre-only version, the hand is clearly visible and there are human figures both above and to the right of the hand. To the right of the lower human figure is another possible human figure, and above that is something that's probably significant but I can't make out what it is.

Very interesting . . .

Thanks for sharing the photos and for the research, Bonvicken. We were there two years ago and certainly felt the reverence for those who came before.

Once you leave Alice going toward Fishdance you get a funny feeling of the place-something is different?

Pinetree: "Once you leave Alice going toward Fishdance you get a funny feeling of the place-something is different?"

We came in the other way, Kawishiwi Lake EP thru Malberg. And yeah, the place has a definite vibe to it. It was a very positive vibe for us.

i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place.

Mocha: "i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place."

Reportedly some feel otherwise...

Bonvicken: "

Mocha: "i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place."

Reportedly some feel otherwise..."

Interesting that you mention that.
We were there a few years ago and had a great day on the water that day, but when we got back to camp and shut things down for the night, everything got weird.
We didn't talk about it until we had been in the car for over an hour on the way home.

pilot: "

Bonvicken: "

Mocha: "i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place."

Reportedly some feel otherwise..."

Interesting that you mention that.
We were there a few years ago and had a great day on the water that day, but when we got back to camp and shut things down for the night, everything got weird.
We didn't talk about it until we had been in the car for over an hour on the way home."

Did you camp at the site across from the pictographs?

Bonvicken: "

pilot: "

Bonvicken: "

Mocha: "i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place."

Reportedly some feel otherwise..."

Interesting that you mention that.
We were there a few years ago and had a great day on the water that day, but when we got back to camp and shut things down for the night, everything got weird.
We didn't talk about it until we had been in the car for over an hour on the way home."

Did you camp at the site across from the pictographs?"

That site across from the pictos has some very old, powerful energy to it. We stopped there for lunch and my husband couldn't stay long.

pilot: "

Bonvicken: "

Mocha: "i felt that very same positive vibe! it seems like a very happy and calming place."

Reportedly some feel otherwise..."

Interesting that you mention that.
We were there a few years ago and had a great day on the water that day, but when we got back to camp and shut things down for the night, everything got weird.
We didn't talk about it until we had been in the car for over an hour on the way home."

Weird how?

Yes it feels like someone is watching you. No threat-just that others are there.

Pinetree: "Yes it feels like someone is watching you. No threat-just that others are there."

I'll have to go there and make an offering of Tobacco.

I'm reading "Magic on the Rocks" now haven't got to these pictographs in the book yet.

Many years ago (before the internet) we camped on the island in fish dance lake and didn't know their were pictos there. We stayed for 3 days and caught a lot of walleye but never saw the pictos

Thank you for sharing the pictures.
30 years ago the vibe was the same for our group, kind of a weird your being watched feel. We did get out of the boats and climbed around to the top of the cliff. It was wide open and flat there were four large rocks placed at the four points of the compass (might have been modern campers messing around). But the feel of dread and being watched was palpable. No one said anything about it at the time but back in camp on Insula that night everyone had the same feeling. You don't know what you don't know.

Interesting feedback, thanks to everyone that responded regarding the "feel" of the place. We didn't plan on camping at the site across from the pictos as we had heard stories about others not feeling at ease there. Our plan was to camp at one of the sites at the far end of the lake, but they were both pretty bad so we backtracked to that site (2327). We found that site to be cozy and inviting, perfect for two people. We enjoyed our stay there very much.

As to the site across from the cliff, I stayed there a couple nights recently when soloing and it was a magical experience. I didn’t feel “watched” but there was no doubt that a powerful presence with cultural significance has inhabited this place for a very long time. Taking in the forest energy on the way up the cliff, I had that Longfellow feeling of the forest primeval (from Evangeline). I decided not to camp among the trees there. On the cliff was an eagle feather. I knew I was where I was meant to be, and made camp with a storm fast approaching.

In fact I felt protected when the mother (or father?) of all storms finally kicked up just after all my shelters were erected. The wind made child’s play of my kitchen tarp and was strong enough to upturn my canoe that had been overturned in the grass thicket down by the landing; the rain came so hard and fast that it filled the canoe in 20 minutes. The storm settled directly above me for about ten minutes I think. During that frightening period, the wind was changing direction so fast that I heard massive thunder rolling for miles in both directions simultaneously—up and down Alice Lake to the north and along an east-west trajectory to the south that sounded like a bowling alley of the gods. Lightning everywhere … blinding reflections off the water … and I learned later that there was lots of destruction from the storm … but my camp suffered no damage. During the storm, the updrafts were such that almost every stake (all my stakes had been easily sunk to the hilt) had been uprooted by the wind. My tent and tarp were still there after the storm only because they had been anchored to trees and rocks.

I made sure to spend time the next day gathering wood from the other end of the lake and splitting it for drying. I used very little of what I had gathered fro myself. I left an offering of one new beaver log (which I had found floating in the middle of the lake), plus tinder, kindling and fuel behind, wrapped in birch bark.

And I made a vow never again to park my canoe overturned in the bushes—no matter how thick— without tying it off.

I should add that I was repeatedly visited over two days by a family of grouse so at home and relaxed, they walked among me and my things in camp with a v blasé vibe.

Looking at the pictographs cliff across the way, I could see in the changing light (especially at dusk) how the glacial activity and subsequent flaking of the rock face has created massive, human like forms on the rock face. They look a bit like stick figures fifty feet tall. I could see a couple of them clearly from the camp, and a different figure when approaching on the water from the west end of the lake.

Paddling toward the great cliff as I returned to Malberg whence I had come, it occurred to me that of course the ancients came here to paint! Who wouldn’t want to study, practice and attain the skills of those incredible forces or spirits that had placed those powerful, archetypal human-like images there for them to contemplate over the ages.

Yup, I felt weird vibes camping across from those pictos. years ago. Never got those weird vibes by any other pictos.

Camped there in 2012... outside of a wicked thunderstorm it was a peaceful couple days...

I think if I hadn't read about the vibes other people got from Fishdance, it would have just been a really remote-feeling lake. It's definitely "in the bush" - I'd love to spend some more time there. I wouldn't put much stock in reports from others at this point, considering how well our minds are able to play tricks on us. Think you're gonna feel some spooky vibes? You probably will. I read some creepy/scary story about Ashigan a couple years back, and I stayed a night there last year. I kept an eye and ear out but nothing out of the ordinary happened for me and the lake didn't "feel" spooky to me. Awesome pictos on Fishdance though, quite a perfect spot to put them too. I find admiring them quietly to be my preferable way of respecting those who came before.