Picket Wire Canyonlands is a somewhat unknown canyon which is a part of the Comanche National Grasslands in Southeastern Colorado. During the spring and fall the Forest Service offers guided driving tours of this historically rich canyon.

With a desire to see the canyon our day started with a 6:00 am departure from Colorado Springs since we needed to make La Junta and the tour meeting point by 8:00 am. We arrived on time and checked in for the tour. The ranger in charge of the tour gathered us all in a small conference room to give us an overview of what to expect in the day ahead. It sounded like we were to expect a FULL day in the canyon with 5 formal stops.

We departed in a caravan of 13 vehicles plus the lead green Forest Service truck.  The trip to the canyon took us about 7 miles south of La Junta on Highway 109 where we then turned west onto a county road. After some time we arrived at a locked gate that the ranger opened so that we could cross the military reserve. This gate and the military reserve are why driving tours of the canyon must be lead by the Forest Service.

Once across the reserve we started down into the canyon. We stopped to pass through another locked gate and then entered Picket Wire Canyonlands. Picket Wire is a wide valley with the Purgatoire River running through it. The canyon is walled in by sandstone cliffs on both sides.  

Once we descended into the canyon our journey through time began. (The stops are not listed in order)

The journey began with the realization that the sandstone walls that contain the valley were once the sandy shores of an inland sea. With the sedimentary rocks in place and the Colorado Rockies raised to the west, the Purgatoire River was able to form the canyon as we see it today.  Through the process of erosion there are many ancient natural attractions in the canyon.

Our stop presented a small arch to us. Arches are formed through the process of erosion from wind and water. This arch formed a small window right next to the road. Close by there was an overhang where there is evidence of Native Americans working to sharpen tools.

Moving on through time we arrived at the dinosaur track site, the imprints in the rock were formed millions of years ago as dinosaurs walked through mud flat which was then covered with another layer of sediment. The dinosaur track way is spectacular with easy to locate impressions. On our trip the river was running high with runoff from recent rains and we were unable to cross and see the best of the tracks.  These tracks are the largest documented assemblage of trackways in North America.

However, at the track site we were able to enjoy the solitude of the canyon while listening to the gentle roar of the high running Purgatoire River. This was our lunch stop and it was enjoyed by all. The children of the group found a mud filled depression next to the river and did their best to leave a number of footprints for some future paleontologist to find.

Leaving ancient prehistory behind, we visited an ancient rock art site. This art was chipped in the rock by ancient peoples who wandered the canyon bellow. Theories abound about who made this rock arts and why it was left behind. Could it have been signs to others, religious symbology or just someone filling their time? No one knows for sure. The panel contains a number of figures of animals that were hunted by the nomadic people who once traveled the valley.

There are indications that the earliest inhabitants of the eastern plains were hunter-gatherers known as the Clovis group. These groups were followed by many other Native American groups, including the Arapaho, Comanche and Kiowa.

As history and our group moved forward we came to Spanish exploration and Mexican independence from Spain. The first European explorers of the area were the Spanish in the 1500’s. However, it was not until the 1860’s and after US occupation of the area that the first settlement in the canyon was established by Mexican farmers working to create a sustainable living in the rich bottom land. Our stop at the Dolores Mission and Cemetery is evidence of this occupation. A homesteader named of Damacio Lopez established a small settlement in 1871 at this location. A number of families joined him in the farming of the bottom land. There is still evidence today of ditches they built to irrigate their fields. However, a large flood in the canyon and the agricultural operations along the Arkansas River helped lead to the abandonment of the community.  

With homesteading came land ownership and large ranches as we know them today. Our final stop took us the Rourke Ranch which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The ranch started as a 160 acre homestead and through the acquisitions of land from others grew to a massive 50,000 acre cattle operation. The ranch was owned by the Rourke family till the 1970’s.

With the stop at the ranch our tour was over. We were left with the desire to further explore the canyons of the region and experience the short grass prairies as they once were.