Round Trip Distance: 100 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5337 - 5350 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 20 R mm 12.3
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Gypsum Valley Petroglyphs are located off of Road 20R, along the Dolores River, between Naturita and Dove Creek, Colorado. The site includes a couple of cute anthropomorphic images with smiley faces, multiple sheep images, and various lines and other images.
The turnoff for Road 20R, the Gypsum Valley Road, is 27 miles south of Naturita and 36 miles north of Dove Creek on CO Highway 141.
From the highway follow the signs for the Gypsum Valley Boat Launch. The gravel road is suitable for 2wd vehicles although there is one wash that can become rough at times.
The main boulder is just off the side of the road. There is a private property sign in one part of the wash but there is also a climbers access trail. It is hard to tell from the BLM map exactly where the private property ends so we started out following the climbers access trail and then cut over to the boulder.
The images are on the south side of the large upright boulder.
The 2 anthropomorphs have several interesting features like the 4 fingers and 4 toes. It must have been painstaking to peck out the solid bodies.
The taller of the images has pretty much the same eyes and mouth although they don't show up quite as well with the dark patina.
A slanted boulder nearby that almost looks like a rock shelter has some images made with scratched lines like those commonly made by Utes. Here is one of a teepee.
A little behind that is a black boulder with multiple images. Down on the lower right of this boulder is a small anthropomorphic image.
Near the entrance of the boat launch there are boulders on either side of the road with images. The boulder that this image is on has a pecked '1916' date. The assumption is that this yankee doodle looking image was created at the same time. There are a few other small images on the same boulder that appear to be authentic though.
On the other side of the road is another boulder with multiple pecked images that include these to anthropomorphs.
The Gypsum Valley Petroglyphs are a nice diversion if you happen to find yourself driving through the area on Highway 141. There is also the Gypsum Gap Rock Shelter just down the highway that is also worth stopping at. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 20 R mm 12.3
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs
The Gypsum Valley Petroglyphs are located off of Road 20R, along the Dolores River, between Naturita and Dove Creek, Colorado. The site includes a couple of cute anthropomorphic images with smiley faces, multiple sheep images, and various lines and other images.
The turnoff for Road 20R, the Gypsum Valley Road, is 27 miles south of Naturita and 36 miles north of Dove Creek on CO Highway 141.
From the highway follow the signs for the Gypsum Valley Boat Launch. The gravel road is suitable for 2wd vehicles although there is one wash that can become rough at times.
The main boulder is just off the side of the road. There is a private property sign in one part of the wash but there is also a climbers access trail. It is hard to tell from the BLM map exactly where the private property ends so we started out following the climbers access trail and then cut over to the boulder.
The images are on the south side of the large upright boulder.
The 2 anthropomorphs have several interesting features like the 4 fingers and 4 toes. It must have been painstaking to peck out the solid bodies.
The taller of the images has pretty much the same eyes and mouth although they don't show up quite as well with the dark patina.
A slanted boulder nearby that almost looks like a rock shelter has some images made with scratched lines like those commonly made by Utes. Here is one of a teepee.
A little behind that is a black boulder with multiple images. Down on the lower right of this boulder is a small anthropomorphic image.
Near the entrance of the boat launch there are boulders on either side of the road with images. The boulder that this image is on has a pecked '1916' date. The assumption is that this yankee doodle looking image was created at the same time. There are a few other small images on the same boulder that appear to be authentic though.
On the other side of the road is another boulder with multiple pecked images that include these to anthropomorphs.
The Gypsum Valley Petroglyphs are a nice diversion if you happen to find yourself driving through the area on Highway 141. There is also the Gypsum Gap Rock Shelter just down the highway that is also worth stopping at. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
