Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area
A quiet rock-art stop rewards patient looking. The site’s small scale makes relationships among water, travel corridors, hunting country, and…
Artwork inspired by Lorenzo Latimer
A short loop climbs a volcanic ridge where petroglyph panels overlook Big Smoky Valley. The site’s small scale makes relationships among water, travel corridors, hunting country, and repeated mark-making easier to study than at a spectacle-driven destination.
Carry water and download the BLM guide before leaving service. Stay on the loop, view panels from durable ground, and never chalk or touch them; the primitive campground has few services and winter or storm conditions can make the access road rough.
- Setting
- Austin
- Evidence
- A quiet rock-art stop rewards patient…
- Allow
- 1½–3 hours
Quick guide
- Route question
- Ridge-top petroglyph panels ↔ Read panels within the valley view
- Final evidence
- Austin context
Four deliberate moves through Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area
- Walk the loop clockwise
- Read panels within the valley view
- Look closer
- Ridge-top petroglyph panels
- Plan for
- Carry water and download the BLM guide before leaving service
- Leave with
- One clear connection between ridge-top petroglyph panels and Nevada
Good to know
Stay on the loop, view panels from durable ground, and never chalk or touch them; the primitive campground has few services and winter or storm conditions can make the access road rough.
Notice these
- Ridge-top petroglyph panels
- Read panels within the valley view
- Austin context