An Ultimate Joy
We were the luckiest visitors that day as far as we could tell. When we first zipped into the park and asked the Park Ranger at the visitor's center how to see the cat petroglyph and she told us it was not currently for public viewing due to construction of a new center, I wanted to cry. it would be like going to Philadelphia and finding out they decided not to display the Liberty Bell. How could this happen today of all days?
We fortunately ran into a Park Ranger about an hour later looking to bust deviants in the park who entered before hours - that is a very bad thing, so don't do it - and we got to talking and I told him how we were at the visitor's center asking about this petroglyph to prove we were not one of the sneaky folks and he offered to give us a private storage area tour of the petroglyph. He gets the Ranger of the Year Award from Bill and Cori Dot Com.
The petroglyph is more likely a cougar or mountain lion, even though we called it a cat. This great hunter was respected among those who would have etched this hundreds of years ago. The petroglyph was found near Blue Mesa in 1934. The petroglyph has since been moved to a public viewing area for visitors to enjoy. The new center they were building looked beautiful and hopefully some day we will get to visit it too. But not before the park gates officially open!