Round Trip Distance: 0.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 7957 - 8016 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: 37.84328, -106.28571
Fee: none
Attractions: pictographs, Madonna Mural
Penitente Canyon is located west of La Garita, Colorado in the BLM Penitente Canyon Recreation Area. The canyon gets its name from a religious brotherhood calling themselves Los Hermanos Penitente who came to the area in the 1880's. In the mid 1980's 3 members of the group painted a mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe high on the canyon wall. Hundreds of years prior to that Native People painted their own pictographs in the canyon.
For turn-by-turn directions all the way to the trailhead enter 37.84328, -106.28571 into your driving app. From La Garita you will be directed west on County Road 41 G for a half mile and then straight on 38A for another 0.8 miles. At that point you will turn right on 40 G which dead ends at the trailhead in another mile while passing several scenic campsites enroute.
As you walk from the trailhead toward the kiosk the trail splits into a loop. The Virgin of Guadalupe Mural is along the right fork of the trail.
Hard to the left are the pictographs up a short side trail.
The kiosk in front of the images mentions that the Jicarilla Apache interpret the images as a game drive.
The human figures represent families or hunters.
The animals at the bottom probably represent elk.
One interpretation of the top of the panel is that it represents a net drawn across the canyon. The Jicarilla Apache interpretation of the dots below the elk is that they represent a corral or box canyon.
To see the mural it is a pleasant quarter mile hike up the right fork of the canyon.
The mural is easy to spot high up on the cliff.
Unfortunately someone thought the original paint was becoming too faded and decided to touch it up. Whoever did the unauthorized work proved to lack the necessary artistic abilities.
As far as the pictographs go they speak for themselves and fortunately being mostly in the shade they don't fade as fast.
If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
