First Light, Legend Rock

Dinwoody Tradition Fully Pecked ?300 A.D. to 700 A.D.
Legend Rock, Hot Springs County, Wyoming

Legend Rock is the site of hundreds of rock art images spanning several thousand years.  An eighty-four year old woman whose family pioneered the valley told me that ancient Indian trails from the Owl Creek Mountains followed Cottonwood Creek past Legend Rock to the valley. 

While several styles of rock art are present at Legend Rock, the most dramatic is the Dinwoody Tradition, named after Dinwoody Lake in the upper Wind River Mountains, a location sacred to the Eastern Shoshone people.  In the 1880s soldiers from Fort Washakie discovered Dinwoody rock art.  The Shoshone people denied knowledge of its creation, yet Shoshone elders told stories about the water ghosts and other strange creatures carved into the cliffs and giant boulders.

In the past Legend Rock was a target for vandalism.  Fortunately, the Wyoming state government purchased Legend Rock from local ranchers and installed a gate across the road with a padlock.  Now visitors sign up for a key and receive information about the history of the site.  Local volunteers monitor the rock art. The result has been more visitations and less vandalism.