Paint Mines, Calhan, CO

Our second day in Colorado we adventured to a place called the “Calhan Paint Mines.” This historic destination was previously occupied by Native American people who used the clay for pottery, arrowheads, and spiritual ceremonies. The park is located near El Paso County in Calhan, CO, which was about two hours from where we were staying. We embarked on our miniature road trip for the day with the car fully stocked with snacks and a long playlist to listen to along the way.

We started out driving through urban Denver and its surrounding cities. There were people and neighborhoods everywhere with cute shops, restaurants, and city-life all around us. About halfway through the drive, we noticed the extreme change in environment from where we began. We were now in the most rural town I have ever been to. There were no people or building in site. Grassy plains spread in all directions, and the most exciting thing we could see were some windmills far off in the distance. We saw one small house with nothing else for miles and even joked that those people would have to drive for at least an hour just to go buy groceries. Our GPS said that we had reached our final destination, and we were both a little confused. We had seen pictures of the majestic pain mines and expected to see large rocks in all directions, however we were parked in a small, gravel parking lot with no large formations in site. One we stepped out of the car and explore further, we finally came to the paint mines we had heard to much about.

In order to access the paint mines we had come to see, we had to walk about a mile down a gravel road that eventually led to some stairs. Once you reached these stairs you could see the beautiful rock formations below you. We took the stairs down and walked among the formations, admiring their unique shapes and array of colors. Many of the rocks looked striped, or like an Easter egg that had been partially dipped in a vibrant color.

After about an hour of walking through rock formations, we turned around and headed back to our car. We got to see a beautiful golden sunset on our walk back. I failed to take a picture of it, but it was absolutely beautiful in the moment. It was a great end to our day exploring the paint mines.