May 22, 2025

By Tim Briese

3.4 miles, 300’ elevation gain, 2:40 roundtrip time

The Paint Mines Interpretive Park is a scenic county park located about 45 minutes from our house, near Calhan, CO. There are colorful red, yellow, purple, and tan clay formations that were once used by native Americans for pigments in their pottery and other crafts. It had been many years since Teresa and I visited this unique wonderland so one fine spring morning we drove out to explore it. There was no one else there when we arrived but a few other folks trickled in as time went by. We wandered around in the midst of the formations for a couple of hours taking numerous photos.

a totally unexpected sight in the middle of the vast prairie

in a colorful canyon

there were quite a few pretty wildflowers on this spring morning

this little fellow was on the trail

After hiking around and taking numerous photos from various angles for a while we returned to our car and headed for home.