Hiking Ute Horse

Rangley Colorado

Overview

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RATING: Easy hike

LENGTH: 1 hour

Mon

36 | 18

Tue

40 | 25

Wed

33 | 25

Thu

29 | 11

Fri

32 | 9

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SEASON: Any as long as there isn't too much snow on the ground.

WATER: None

Mon

36 | 18

Tue

40 | 25

Wed

33 | 25

Thu

29 | 11

Fri

32 | 9

View Full Weather Details

hike

rock art

dog friendly

family friendly

access: paved

Ute Horse - Rangley Colorado

Ute Horse site is northeast of Rangley, and not in Canyon Pintado proper. This small site has a petroglyph of a horse, I assume believed to be carved by a Ute since the site is called Ute Horse. There are also some grooves left in the rock from sharpening tools.

Of the sites we visited in Rangley, this was clearly the least visited and probably my least favorite. Be sure to bring a GPS for this one, we had a hard time finding the parking spot and the trail to the site.

The cliffs in the background and an archeology sign not far from the county road.

Getting There

From Rangley, head east on CO-64 for about 9 miles to the junction with County Road 65 on the left. Take County Road 65 north toward Deserado Coal Mine. The trailhead is just before milepost 3 on County Road 65. It was about mile 2.9 according to my odometer. There isn't an obvious pull-out, GPS highly recommended.

Getting close to the cliffs, a few minutes from the county road.

Route

Rock Art and Historic Site Etiquette
Rock art and historic sites are fragile, non-renewable cultural resources that, once damaged, can never be replaced. To ensure they are protected, please:

Avoid Touching the Petroglyphs: Look and observe, BUT DO NOT TOUCH!
Stay on the Trails: Stay on the most used trails when visiting sites, and don't create new trails or trample vegetation.
Photography and Sketching is Allowed: Do not introduce any foreign substance to enhance the carved and pecked images for photographic or drawing purposes. Altering, defacing, or damaging the petroglyphs is against the law -- even if the damage is unintentional.
Pets: Keep pets on a leash and clean up after them.
Artifacts: If you happen to come across sherds (broken pottery) or lithics (flakes of stone tools), leave them where you see them. Once they are moved or removed, a piece of the past is forever lost.

From the side of the road, look for a use-trail heading north. There were a couple of options on our visit. The one shown on the map follows a trail that mostly follows a shallow wash. It is only about 600 feet from the road to the cliff face, as long as you keep a mostly north path, you should find the cliff in just a few minutes.

Once at the cliff, the Ute Horse is toward the west side of the cliff face, and fairly obvious with a close eye. If you head south/east along the cliff, there are a couple of other spots with very faint looking rock art and a few places where there are grooves evident from sharpening tools.

Return the same way.