Eagle Rock Shelter
Eagle Rock Shelter, is located in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area near Hotchkiss, Colorado. Access is from Hwy 92 about 100 feet east of Mile Marker 13 and you’ll see an "Eagle Rock Shelter Access" sign at the beginning of the road. The road initially leads up through a small, inactive gravel pit, then follows the rim of the canyon, offering spectacular views of the Gunnison River. You’ll find a gravel parking area and the trailhead approximately 3.7 miles from the Hwy 92 turnoff.
This Gunnison River site is very old with Archaic Era rock art dating back some 13,000 years. Overlooking the Gunnison River, the site is located along a game trail and was used by the ancient Indians as they followed the migrating herds of game animals. More than 8,000 years before the pyramids were built and about 11,000 years before the cliff houses went up at Mesa Verde, humans took up housekeeping under a rock overhang along the Gunnison River. From that prime piece of prehistoric real estate on a natural rock terrace, they hunted mice and grouse and gathered wild grains and seeds. For hunters and gatherers and subsequent farmers, the access to a large river meant no worries about water. Just to the south of Eagle Rock, the Gunnison River cut one of the most impressive canyons in North America, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
It is thought that humans continually inhabited the Eagle Rock Shelter for 5,000 years. They left behind rock art and the detritus of everyday living. Because the site is under a rock overhang, some of the evidence of that occupation, including the second-oldest basked in the nation, has survived.
The shelter, on Bureau of Land Management land at the north end of the Gunnison Gorge, is not well known to the public but it is the earliest site of human occupation in Colorado.
From the Eagle Rock Shelter site, you can hike north along a trail that goes up Lawhead Gulch for about 3/4 of a mile. It pops out on the road north of the trailhead, and you can walk the road back to your car. The whole loop from trailhead, down to the site, then up Lawhead Gulch to the road, and up the road back to the trailhead is about 1.4 miles. The hike is not strenuous, but good footwear is needed.
This Gunnison River site is very old with Archaic Era rock art dating back some 13,000 years. Overlooking the Gunnison River, the site is located along a game trail and was used by the ancient Indians as they followed the migrating herds of game animals. More than 8,000 years before the pyramids were built and about 11,000 years before the cliff houses went up at Mesa Verde, humans took up housekeeping under a rock overhang along the Gunnison River. From that prime piece of prehistoric real estate on a natural rock terrace, they hunted mice and grouse and gathered wild grains and seeds. For hunters and gatherers and subsequent farmers, the access to a large river meant no worries about water. Just to the south of Eagle Rock, the Gunnison River cut one of the most impressive canyons in North America, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
It is thought that humans continually inhabited the Eagle Rock Shelter for 5,000 years. They left behind rock art and the detritus of everyday living. Because the site is under a rock overhang, some of the evidence of that occupation, including the second-oldest basked in the nation, has survived.
The shelter, on Bureau of Land Management land at the north end of the Gunnison Gorge, is not well known to the public but it is the earliest site of human occupation in Colorado.
From the Eagle Rock Shelter site, you can hike north along a trail that goes up Lawhead Gulch for about 3/4 of a mile. It pops out on the road north of the trailhead, and you can walk the road back to your car. The whole loop from trailhead, down to the site, then up Lawhead Gulch to the road, and up the road back to the trailhead is about 1.4 miles. The hike is not strenuous, but good footwear is needed.