Roubideau Creek Petroglyphs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5590 - 6453 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 4 hrs.
Trailhead: 38.57040, -108.16513
Fee: none
Attractions: scenic views, petroglyphs

The Roubideau Creek Petroglyphs are located in the Camel Back Wilderness Study Area west of Olathe, Colorado. We have been able to find 3 panels of petroglyphs near where the Roubideau Pack Trail crosses Roubideau Creek. The trail itself is very well constructed and makes for an enjoyable hike.

For turn-by-turn directions to the trailhead enter 38.57040, -108.16513 into your driving app. From CO-348 you will turn onto Cedar Road where the route continues for about 5 miles on the Tow-Me-Home Road. Tow-Me-Home sounds ominous but we have driven all the way to the Roubideau Creek trailhead without using 4WD and without spinning a tire. A moderate amount of ground clearance is needed in the rocky places.

The unmarked trailhead is where there is an abandoned 4WD route that is marked with a brown mylar marker with 'No Vehicles Beyond this Point'. From here head along the shallow ditch toward a post that you can see in the distance.

After the post the route turns along the wash toward the canyon where it begins a gentle descent passing the fallen gate of an old fence.

From there it continues around the scenic cliffs passing a rock shelter that we will stop at on the return trip out of the canyon.

There comes a point in the descent into the canyon that the 3 panels of petroglyphs that we know about are visible. The 2 on the right are within 20-30 feet of each other on the red cliff right above Roubideau Creek. The panel on the left is on a boulder near the base of the hill but set back a ways from the creek.

When the water is low you might be able to cross the creek on rocks without getting your feet wet. We have in the past but on this trip the water was over the top of my waterproof boots.

On the left side of the red cliff are 2 sheep figures facing a deer or elk.

To the left of that there is an image of a horse and rider created out of scratched lines.

Above some sluff in front of the cliff about 20-30 feet away is another image of a horse and rider that looks very old and worn. There are also some faint circles and other images that are hard to make out.

The boulder with petroglyphs sits on the lower side of the hill above the bottom area around the creek. The bottom is a tangle of sagebrush and greasewood that is easiest to get around by hiking across the hillside.

 On the left is a stacked group of figures with their arms raised to spook the deer that are facing them. All over the rest of the panel are at least a dozen sheep and deer images. Near the bottom of the panel are a couple of deer tracks.

This is the rock shelter that we mentioned earlier that is up near the start of the trail.

The rock shelter has obviously been disturbed by recent activity which caused us to at first doubt the prehistoric authenticity of some of the traces of black charcoal images that are present until we noticed these 2 sheep images on the lip of the caves overhang.

So far we have hiked the Roubideau Creek trail 3 times exploring both up and down the canyon. It has turned out to be one of our most favorite hikes in the area. The trail is very well constructed and easy to follow until you get down around the creek where it seems to disappear in the undergrowth in places. The intrepid hiker has the option of continuing on the trail as it climbs out of the west side of the canyon and exploring around Camel Back Mountain. Hiking either up or down stream requires occasional creek crossings.

If you would like to explorer the area for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.