Round Trip Distance: 0.2 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4805 - 4822 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 1 hrs.
Trailhead: Medicine Lodge Archeological Site
Day Use Fee: none
Camping Fee: (reservations)
Wyoming Resident Fees - $11
Non-Resident Fees - $19.80
Attractions: rock art, picnic
The Medicine Lodge Archeological Site is located near Hyattville, Wyoming. Culture history goes back more than 10,000 years at the site. Rock art in the way of both petroglyphs and pictographs can be found on a 750 feet stretch of cliff that also protected some habitation sites.
For turn-by-turn directions enter "Medicine Lodge Archeological Site" into your driving app. Currently there is no day use fee. From May through September camping reservations are required.
To see the rock art begin at the south end of the log pole fence where you will find Station 1 of the interpretive markers.
Some of the images are more than 2,000 years old. This image appears to be of a woman crying with the travails of childbirth. To the left are 2 more similar figures.
Some of the images like this subtle little smiley face blend in so well that they are easily missed.
These pictographs, although much deteriorated, show some of the common colors that were used at the site.
To the left of this warrior holding a shield there appears to be a single Dinwoody Style image.
Warriors holding shields figure predominately at the site. Some of them are also holding long spears some of which are streaming feathers.
At one time this would have been quite the panel of pictographs to see. Nature is destroying them as the salt within the sandstone dissolves away. People have caused further damage by outlining the images with chalk. While at one time that was too common of an occurrence, even by archeologists, it is now illegal. It is much better to take a photo and then trace the photo on a computer.
This image of a warrior holding a shield appears to have been first pecked and then painted with wet charcoal.
The Medicine Lodge Archeological Site is located near Hyattville, Wyoming. Culture history goes back more than 10,000 years at the site. Rock art in the way of both petroglyphs and pictographs can be found on a 750 feet stretch of cliff that also protected some habitation sites.
For turn-by-turn directions enter "Medicine Lodge Archeological Site" into your driving app. Currently there is no day use fee. From May through September camping reservations are required.
To see the rock art begin at the south end of the log pole fence where you will find Station 1 of the interpretive markers.
Some of the images are more than 2,000 years old. This image appears to be of a woman crying with the travails of childbirth. To the left are 2 more similar figures.
Some of the images like this subtle little smiley face blend in so well that they are easily missed.
These pictographs, although much deteriorated, show some of the common colors that were used at the site.
To the left of this warrior holding a shield there appears to be a single Dinwoody Style image.
Warriors holding shields figure predominately at the site. Some of them are also holding long spears some of which are streaming feathers.
At one time this would have been quite the panel of pictographs to see. Nature is destroying them as the salt within the sandstone dissolves away. People have caused further damage by outlining the images with chalk. While at one time that was too common of an occurrence, even by archeologists, it is now illegal. It is much better to take a photo and then trace the photo on a computer.
This image of a warrior holding a shield appears to have been first pecked and then painted with wet charcoal.
This large warrior figure has all the facial features including eyebrows. To the right of the warrior is a large horse of which you can see the head in this photo. That would place it among the newer images at the site.
There are literally hundreds of images at the site that we haven't shown. Many of them are in the following slideshow which we had to speed up to 1 second per photo to cut it down from over 30 minutes in length.
A teepee adds a nice touch to the site.
Medicine Lodge is probably a 5 star recreation site even without the rock art. With a stream running through its midst, watering a thick growth of trees, it offers many beautiful campsites and places for kids to explore. Several hiking trails, horse corrals, and places to set up your volleyball net are other amenities.
If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
A teepee adds a nice touch to the site.
If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
