Canyon Pintado National Historic District , Rangely, CO

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The Canyon Pintado National Historic District includes hundreds of archaeological sites, most deriving from the (c. AD 0 Fremont Culture –1300) and Ute (c. AD 1300–1881) occupations of the Douglas Creek canyon. The name “Canyon Pintado,” meaning “Painted Canyon,” comes from the journal of Frey Francisco Silvestre Velez de Escalante. As a chronicler of the 1776 Escalante-Dominguez Expedition he wrote about some of the Native American pictographs included in the self-guided tour.



Seven premiere rock art locations and archaeological sites have been made available to the public, and are posted with interpretative panels. These sites are highlighted on the map below. A similar map may be found in the Canyon Pintado interpretative brochure, available at the White River Field Office and elsewhere.



The long-awaited new interpretive panels are now in place at sites featured on the map below.Check back with us for future updates regarding guided tours of Canyon Pintado in the spring or summer of 2010, new interpretive signs for Dragon Trail rock art sites, and more detailed synopses of the prehistory and history of Northwest Colorado and Canyon Pintado



Please help us protect these irreplaceable, culturally and scientifically valuable resources. Adding your own images or names to the rock art panels may weaken the rock itself, and result in the loss of the entire panel. Touching pictographs (painted figures) may leave behind oils that can cause the pigments to dissolve. Making rubbings of petroglyphs (carved or pecked figures) will erode the rock surface. Only take photographs or make sketches of rock art panels—never touch them. Intentionally damaging rock art is considered vandalism, and is punishable by law.



If you see others causing damage to rock art panels or other archaeological sites, please notify the White River Field Office (970-878-3800).

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