Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area

An ambitious petroglyph

We spent our first night on the road at the campground at Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area along Highway 50 (http://wiki.worldflicks.org/hickison_petroglyph_campground.html). This was my second time at this campground (Erin's first), that's approximately halfway (600 miles) to our destination -- Durango, Colorado, to visit with my brother Chad and his girlfriend, Erin. A petroglyph is a stone carving that often depicts animals, hunting, humans or fertility (although some believe they may just be prehistoric graffiti or doodling). The glyphs are scratched onto the rock face or incised or pecked, as with a hammer and chisel.

It's fascinating that these Petroglyphs, as well as numerous hunting and living sites found around this area, date back as far as 10,000 to 12,000 BC and are evidence of the early hunter gatherers who crossed over the Bering Strait into North America from Asia during the recent glaciation. This was thousands of years before these nomads banded into the hundreds of disparate and distinct Indian tribes that would later poplulate this entire continent, from Florida to the Pacific Northwest, as well as Central and South America. At the time that these carvings were made, this desert was filled with lakes and forests -- archeologists refer to this early period of human habitation of the Great Basin as the Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition, which is just a fancy way of say, "Lots of lakes, plenty of game to hunt and no competition -- good times."

Enough history. Erin and I had a wonderful night here and we went on a meandering walk in the morning on the trails they have next to the campsite:

Erin in the morning

C'est Moi

A short video of this stunning landscape:

Next stop Durango . . .