Osage Bluff Scenic Trail Loop(edit)

Hike on the Osage Scenic Bluff Trail, Painted Rock Conservation Area 2025-09-03 1046 Renner and Martha In the summer of 1963, between my junior and senior years of high school, I worked on an archaeology dig at the Grand Osage village site of the Osage Indian tribe. We spent most of the summer locating and excavating the refuse pits that ringed the village. Those pits were a rich source of artifacts, including French coins, catlinite pipes from Minnesota, flintlock rifle side pieces, animal bones, and flint arrowheads, knives, and scrapers. The Osage village we were excavating had been visited by the early American explorer Zebulon Pike on August 15, 1806. Pike noted in his journal that he could smell the campsite from three miles away. Two weeks later, he continued west, seeking the source of the Rio Grande. Straying into Mexican territory, Pike was taken captive by the Spaniards, and his journals and maps were confiscated. Pike's notebooks and maps were later recovered from Mexican archives in 1910 and were used to determine the location of the Osage Indian campsite where I had worked. Imagine my excitement when I learned today, more than sixty years later, that Zebulon Pike and his crew had canoed past this bluff on July 30, 1806, just sixteen days before arriving at the Osage Indian camp where I had worked. Pike noted the "Painted Rocks" in his journal, describing high bluffs decorated with ancient Native American pictographs. These paintings, depicting various animals and figures, are estimated to have been created between 1200 and 1300 A.D. Title: Hike on the Osage Scenic Bluff Trail, Painted Rock Conservation Area 2025-09-03 1046 Date: 9/3/25, 10:46:08 AM CDT Distance: 1.80 mi Time: 01:26:35 Average Speed: 1.2 mph Max Speed: 3.0 mph Ascent: 149.39 ft Min/Max Altitude: 573.16 ft, 750.11 ft Started: 9/3/25, 10:46:08 AM CDT - (38.41220, -92.10927) Ended: 9/3/25, 12:12:43 PM CDT - (38.41215, -92.10926)