Free Tour of Picketwire Canyon Thursday, October 17

Canyons & Plains, the southeast Colorado heritage tourism organization, is offering a free tour for up to 25 people to visit Picketwire Canyon in the Comanche National Grassland on Thursday, October 17. Normally these tours, led by a U.S. Forest Service guide, cost $15 per person.  Canyons & Plains (C&P) will be covering that cost for the first 25 people who sign up via https://forms.gle/jY8LLrYHRXnBMUy2A.

Those who sign up for the tour are required to provide their own high clearance four-wheel drive transportation for the excursion into Picketwire Canyon.  The tour lasts all day beginning at the U.S. Forest Service office in La Junta before proceeding to the canyon.  Highlights of the tour include the longest dinosaur trackway in North America, rock art, an Hispanic mission church and cemetery, and an historic ranch.

Additionally, participants should be prepared to wade across the Purgatory River (shallow this time of year), bring plenty of water, snacks and a lunch, and dress appropriate for the weather. Again reservations are required and can be made via https://forms.gle/jY8LLrYHRXnBMUy2A.

This is the second in a series of tours offered by Canyons & Plains (C&P) for the rest of the year.  The final C&P tour will take place on December 12 and will feature a talk and tour of the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache), a World War II Japanese Internment Camp, once home to over 7,500 people and the 10th largest city in Colorado at the time.

Canyons & Plains is providing these tours so that anyone employed, involved, or interested in tourism in southeast Colorado is able to learn more about the important sites to be found in our region, the need for their protection, and their potential to attract economic development through tourism.