Colorado, Baca County - Picture Canyon Comanche National Grassland

Описание: Picture Canyon is located in the Comanche National Grassland just north of Campo in southeastern Colorado and was named for its prehistoric rock art. There is evidence of prehistoric inhabitation of sites in Picture Canyon by Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Post-Archaic cultures, from about 12,000 years ago to 400 years ago. In addition to rock art, there are also carvings in walls that are used to identify the entry into fall and spring equinoxes.

You will also find easy slopes, springs, picnic tables and a 4 mile hiking trail with natural attractions including rock formations, such as Balanced Rock and Crack Cave. Markings in the walls of Crack Cave were made more than 1,000 years ago which are illuminated by rays of the sun during the spring and autumn equinox. The south canyon walls of Picture Canyon contain rock art, red and black pictographs and human and animal petroglyphs, that were likely made by Plains Indians in the 17th and early 18th centuries.[1] Horizontal lines of writing were found there, similar to 50 sites in Oklahoma and southeastern Colorado, which have been translated to include solar, planting and travel related information.[2]

References:
1. Picture Canyon. Santa Fe Trails Scenic and Historic Byway. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
2. Green, Stewart M. (2008) [1994]. Scenic Driving Colorado. Morris Book Publishing. p. 28. ISSN 1544-8355.

Today, Comanche National Grassland is a multiple-use landscape where people have opportunities for recreation and working on the land. The grassland allows camping, fishing, hiking, bird watching, and recreational shooting.
Author
Dillon Maxwell