Cow Canyon Interpretive Site ~ Canyon Pintado

Flickr album link: Cow Canyon Interpretive Site 

Previous articles about the Canyon Pintado National Historic District have been published and the links can be found in the Colorado index page. Basically, Highway 139 runs through the entire length of Canyon Pintado in western Colorado, so accessing each spot is easy even for a regular passenger car. There are several roadside points of interest that are well worth checking out along this 17 mile stretch of highway, especially if you happen to relish the thought pondering over the significance of ancient sacred places, of which this canyon truly is.

There were marshes near Canyon Pintado that once were primary food gathering areas and a lot of the old local rock art depicts scenes from those ancient times. There are also many petroglyphs and pictographs that are not quite as easy to decipher. The Cow Canyon Interpretive Site is one such place where the rock art does not provide easy conclusions to draw. The timeline of the rock art in Cow Canyon also requires some extra reckoning, because some inscriptions appear to be much older than others. Artistic representations from a few different native cultures are also expressed in this unique area, so those who are dedicated to reading the age old newspaper rocks will find volumes of insightful information to dream about. For all these reasons, it is best to set some extra time aside for viewing the ancient inscriptions in the Cow Canyon area!