Colorado’s  San Luis Valley is full of natural and historic places to visit, often times they are hidden off of old dirt roads, forgotten paths and Jeep trails.

This historic place is by a small bridge along the Rio Grande River in Conejos County, Colorado. Here the remains of ancient Petroglyphs created by native American Indians can be viewed on the rocks lining the Rio Grande River. These Petroglyphs date back hundreds of years. If you never head of Petroglyphs before they are also referred to as carved rock, Indian writing, picture writing and rock graphics. They are created by carving, pecking, chipping or abrading into stone.

Using the coordinates below with a GPS you will be lead right to the Petroglyphs.

Depending on your GPS one of the 3 below formats should work.

N 37° 03.955 W 105° 46.125

37.06589 -105.76818

N 37° 3′ 57.3012″ W 105° 46′ 07.5000″

Be forewarned that you will need a vehicle with high ground high clearance if you plan to drive directly to them, if not you can drive most of the way and park and hike a short distance to the Petroglyphs. The Petroglyphs are about 80 feet from the bank of the Rio Grande River.

If you come from the east to the coordinates you will be crossing the bridge which is a steel 1 lane bridge (its a few hundred feet long at best), but you will have to ride on the two tracks when you cross, if you ever pulled into a oil change place and had to ride up on 2 metal supports you will know what I mean.

The trip to the Petroglyphs is well worth it, the scenery is great! There are other great places to visit while in the area. Alamosa and the Great Sand Dunes are approx a hour drive north of this spot.