Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Hot Springs County State Parks Assistant superintendent John Fish explains the petroglyphs to students during the Worland Middle School 8th grade field trip to the Legend Rock Petroglyph site in Thermopolis Wednesday.
THERMOPOLIS – Worland Middle School eighth graders visited the Legend Rock Petroglyph site 29 miles northwest of Thermopolis Wednesday.
After the 106 students were divided into three groups, each group was assigned to one of three stations. The groups spent about 45 minutes at each station learning about different aspects of the site.
At station one students were led down the trail to see the petroglyphs, and each panel or group of petroglyphs was explained to the students. Before going down the trail the students were cautioned that the site was a spiritual place for the Native Americans and that it should be treated as such. "Treat it as a church, a place of worship," Hot Springs County State Parks Assistant superintendent John Fish said.
According to wyoparks.state.wy.us, "Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site is a 400 meter long, near vertical cliff with more than 92 prehistoric petroglyph panels and over 300 petroglyph figures. While the site is not extensively promoted, Legend Rock is already a world-renowned petroglyph site. Legend Rock has been a sacred site for Native Americans of this region for thousands of years. Local concern for the preservation and protection of the site led to acquisition of the property as a Wyoming State Petroglyph Site in 1973. During the same year, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Legend Rock Petroglyph Site is one of the most fragile in the Wyoming State Parks system."
Station two was the predator prey station. At this station the students played a game called predator prey, which is a lot like capture the flag. The prey group had to get two pieces of "food" from a food pile that was behind the predators without getting caught. There were a few safety areas that the prey could use to avoid being caught by the predators.
Station three had an art lesson and the students also entered the visitor's center to read the descriptions of the petroglyphs. During the art lesson the students were given a "tool" which was a pointed rock and a piece of clay. After a short demonstration the students used their tools to create their own hunting story petroglyph.
The students finished their field trip with a nature walk in the badlands before returning back to the school.
