Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4726 - 4774 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: Carrizo Canyon Picnic Area
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Carrizo Canyon Petroglyphs are located southeast of Springfield, Colorado in the Comanche National Grassland. Found along the cliffs of a well watered shallow canyon are numerous mostly zoomorphic images of deer, elk, and bighorn sheep. At the time of this post the once easy to hike trail has become overgrown with trees and brush making it difficult to navigate.
For turn-by-turn directions you can enter Carrizo Canyon Picnic Area into your driving app. The route with the least amount of dirt roads is via Highway 160. The default route from Springfield is to drive south on Highway 385 for 18.1 miles and turn right onto County Road M. Continue for 21.3 miles and turn left for another 1.2 miles and then stay straight for the last quarter mile to the picnic area.
From the parking area there is a paved accessible trail that leads to an overlook. Before you reach the kiosk the sidewalk is crossed by the Carrizo Canyon Loop trail which you will want to follow to the left.
The trail starts out dropping off of the mesa and passing a trail register. We read an entry left by the previous visitor that described their inability to find the petroglyphs. We were sharing their frustration due to the trail being overgrown until someone came along that knew where to look.
The petroglyphs are found in multiple places around a point in the cliffs on the west side of the creek.
Some of the better images are near the rim of the canyon where the cliffs form a corner. They are pretty easy to scramble up to for closer inspection.
The images all appear to have a hunting magic theme.
Wild looking antlers are found on several of the images.
The person that created this image seems to have intended to add some extra meaning by extending the antlers up to the crack in the rocks.
Another big rack and a circular tail.
This image of a bighorn is found lower down as you work your way along the cliff. When we researched Vogel Canyon it seemed like this image was shown in all of the articles. You might not see any of them but there are herds of deer, antelope, and bighorn sheep in the area.
As you search along the base of the cliff there are a lot more images. Some of them are very faint but others show up quite well.
Some of the images have been chalked. Chalking and tracing used to be a common practice but it can't be done without damaging the images. Archeologists are now aware of it and if you didn't know yourself it is now illegal.
Here's one more set of large antlers.
There are plenty of brown mylar trail markers along the trail but there aren't any that actually point out the petroglyphs. With all of the overgrown brush and trees you can expect some difficult scrambling to get through all of the tangles. Those that are allergic to poison ivy will want to take extra care because there is quite a lot of it mixed in with the grass. The one thing that we have found that can get the oil off your skin and saves the day are Clorox wipes. They work without fail even after the first signs of a rash.
There are more petroglyphs in the area that we will search out on another trip. As far as what we have mentioned here, if you would like to see them for yourself all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
