Round Trip Distance: 0.3 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4716 - 4787 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Mile marker 88
Fee: none
Attractions: Petroglyphs
Located along Highway 141 between Gateway and Naturita, Colorado at mile marker 88 are a number of interesting petroglyphs on the face of the cliff that are only a short distance from the pavement. A few more petroglyphs can be found on 3 sides of a nearby boulder.
After navigating to mile marker 88 pull over a safe distance off of the highway. There isn't a pullout so it is necessary to make use of the road shoulder and bar ditch.
There haven't been enough recent visitors to create a noticeable trail but all that is needed is to hike up the short hill to the face of the cliff.
Petroglyphs can be found all along the cliff with a few inscriptions mixed in.
The petroglyphs are of two distinct styles. Those that we have outlined here were pecked into the sandstone.
Others were carved into the rock.
From the patina on this geometric pattern it appears to have been carved quite some time ago.
After searching all along the cliff to the right as far as we could go we retraced our steps and did the same to the left. As the cliff wrapped around a corner we found an easy route back down toward the highway.
Before reaching the highway we came upon a large boulder that had images on three of its sides.
These were images of squiggly lines, bighorn sheep, and other objects that one might commonly find.
