A Hike Through Penitente Canyon

September 22, 2019

I have had a busy summer and have spent many of my weekends hunting bees, and recently, entertaining company, so haven't had my usual adventures. I decided I needed to make some short forays into recreational lands belonging to the Rio Grand Forest Service or the San Luis Valley Bureau of Land Management. I have a book of local birding hot spots, some of which are also scenic spots, which I used to find the sites.

One of two places I set my sight on Sunday was  Penitente Canyon. This site is supposed to be a premiere climbing area and is also known for hiking and birding. I found this site and the other site I visited, Natural Arch, are both part of the one of the largest explosive eruptions on earth, estimated at 1,2000 cubic miles.  This formed the La Garita Caldera. The scenic areas I saw were the result of this eruption.

I got to Penitente Canyon a little after noon.  It has a camping area with about ten campsites, some squeezed between the large boulders. The canyon itself is narrow to very narrow, but the trail is mostly very flat and easy to walk on.In less than two miles, the the trail forms a circle that runs through the canyon, climbs out to a mesa, and then returns back down into the canyon as it reaches the beginning point. 

View from the parking lot

How did this hole get there?

The very easy path

I think the climbers can only use these points to attach their climbing ropes to and not add any attachments of their own

The easy, flat trail

So many boulders

One of a few mountain climbers

Was this area carved by giants?

Intriguing composition 

This seemed to be a worn area on the rock.

 At about this point, the trail turned to the NW and climbed up through shady vegetation in a few easy switchbacks to finally reach a rock face where I lost the trail for a few minutes.  I had very different vegetation and views.

Looking east across the canyon

Long views to the south and west

Found the trail 

Had to stop repeatedly to capture views

I could have taken a detour here to see wagon tracks made by Mexicans who
 drove tiny carts through this area to harvest wood

Bug love - think these are a kind of assassin fly

I enjoyed the backlit spines on these cacti

Another "carved" rock

I was almost back to the kiosk when I found this scene

Trying to get everything captured

More scenic views

It was amazing to see so much vegetation growing in the high rocky crevasses

This was a sacred site to several Indian tripes. There are a few rock paintings. Also people of the Penitente Religion also used this canyon.  Three men painted the Virgin of Guadalupe high on the canyon wall, but I didn't know to look for it until after I got back, so never noticed it.

But I did get to see one rock painting right on the parking lot. It has a sign describing it so it was hard to miss.

The only rock painting I found.