American Rock Art Research Association upcoming events

F3 Hellgate & Avalanche (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Description: The sites are about 80 miles west of Great Falls on paved and good gravel Description: The sites are about 120 miles south of Great Falls. The Hellgate Gulch and Avalanche Gulch pictographs are typical central Montana rock art with handprints and abstracts. Access to Hellgate and Avalanche gulches is by paved and gravel roads. If time remains and people want to drive 20 miles to Townsend, it will be possible to visit a painted buffalo robe in the Broadwater County Museum (Open 1-5 pm daily).
Difficulty: The two main sites are immediately next to the road with no elevation gain. A nearby boulder is 500 feet from the road (no formal trail) with a total round trip walk on nearly level ground of 1000 feet.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 140 miles
Vehicle: Any (paved and good gravel roads)
Number of Participants: 15
Meeting time: 8:00 am
Leaders: Carl Davis

F6 Middle and South Fork Judith (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Description: The sites are about 100 miles southeast of Great Falls. There are a variety of painted sites along the two forks of the Judith River. Access is by paved and gravel roads. Although most sites on the South Fork are next to the road, getting to them ranges from moderate to difficult. Those along the Middle Fork will involve a moderate hike along established trails. Bring lunch. There is no place to buy food in this area.
Difficulty: Middle Fork: Developed Forest Service trail. Stays at creek level for 1.5 miles round trip. South Fork: Sites are near the road but each requires scramble up STEEP, rocky slope for 150-200 yards. (NOT for the faint of heart!) There are no established trails.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 100 miles
Vehicle: Any
Number of Participants: 10
Meeting time: 8:00 am
Leader: Patrick Rennie

F7 Middle and South Fork Judith (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Description: This is the same trip as F6/M6 simply in reverse order so we don’t have too many people at any one site. The sites are about 100 miles southeast of Great Falls. There are a variety of painted sites along the two forks of the Judith River. Access is by paved and gravel roads. Although most sites on the South Fork are next to the road, getting to them ranges from moderate to difficult. Those along the Middle Fork will involve a moderate hike along established trails. Bring lunch. There is no place to buy food in this area.
Difficulty: Middle Fork: Developed Forest Service trail. Stays at creek level for 1.5 miles round trip. South Fork: Sites are near the road but each requires scramble up STEEP, rocky slope for 150-200 yards. (NOT for the faint of heart!) There are no established trails.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 100 miles
Vehicle: Any
Number of Participants: 10
Meeting time: 8:00 am
Leader: Cam Dimmick

F2 Rock Creek and Elk Creek Pictographs (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:30:00 GMT

Description: The sites are about 70 miles southwest of Great Falls. The Rock Creek pictographs include large shields, a lizard surrounded by a wavy line, and a shaman anthropomorph surrounded by a wavy line. Access to the site is by paved, gravel, and two-track road on mostly flat ground. It is a short easy walk from the two-track to the site, although there can be downed timber to cross.
The Elk Creek sites are across the Missouri River from Rock Creek and only about 20 miles away, but it may involve about an hour of driving because of the gravel roads. The pictographs are within the Big Belt Mountains and are good examples of sites within this mountain range with abstracts, handprints, and bear prints. All sites are near the roads with easy walks.
Difficulty: Rock Creek: About 100 feet of walking from parking to the site, on mostly on flat ground but there is no established trail. There is a pipe and a dam to cross. There can also be downed timber. Total round trip walking about 200 feet.
Elk Creek Pictos: All sites are next to the road with no established trails and no significant elevation change.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 100 miles
Vehicle: High clearance. Most travel is on paved roads but there are short gravel and two-track sections.
Number of Participants: 15
Meeting time: 8:30 am
Leader: Dale Becker

F4 Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:30:00 GMT

Description: The site is about 145 miles north of Great Falls. This large petroglyph site is just north of the Canadian border along the Milk River. Archaic, Late Prehistoric, Proto-historic, and Early Historic biographic rock art scenes dominate the images, some of which were used in the promotional materials for the conference. Access to park is by paved road, access to site DgOv-2 is by bus from the Visitor Center. Walking in the park is on established trails, which range from easy to moderately difficult. A PASSPORT is necessary for this trip since you are crossing the Canadian/US border. Firearms can also be complicated at the border and slow down your crossing. Leave firearms at the hotel. For more information on what you can take across the border click here.
Organize yourselves to carpool and get to the site. You will meet your leader at Writing-On-Stone. Leave Great Falls at 8:30 am; arrive Coutts border crossing at 10 am; clear the border by 10:30. Arrive at the town of Milk River at 11:00 am; buy sandwiches at Subway or grocery store in Milk River (remember, you cannot carry SEVERAL different foodstuffs across the border, so do not risk bringing food). Arrive at the Park by noon, have a picnic lunch at the campground just below Visitor Center. The Camp Kitchen is reserved for the ARARA tour and can be used as a meeting location and lunch spot.
The tour begins at 1 pm at Visitor Center, arrive early to pay for the tour and take the park bus to the main site for the 2 hour tour. Leave the park about 3:15 pm and arrive in Great Falls about 6:30 p.m.
Difficulty: The rock art site is visited on a formal tour with level trails and relatively flat access to all panels and with less than 50 foot elevation gain in total. Other areas in park: Steep trails developed for tourist access, 125 foot elevation difference from prairie level to river floodplain.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 145 miles
Vehicle: Any
Number of Participants: 23
Meeting time: 8:30 am
Leader: Park Interpretative Ranger possibly accompanied by a Native Blackfoot Interpretive guide.
Cost: $24 Canadian/person paid by credit card or cash at Visitor Center prior to boarding the bus to the site. They also accept US$ at 1:1 exchange rate.

F1 Sun River (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Description: The sites are about 80 miles west of Great Falls on paved and good gravel roads. Sites to be visited in this area have typical Foothills Abstract tradition paintings. These painted sites are just inside the Rocky Mountain front, and the Sun River Style of complete wall painting was originally recognized and reported from here.
Access to the sites below the Gibson Bridge dam are short walks down a rocky slope, and access to Hannan Bluff Cave is a short walk along relatively level ground.
Difficulty: Gibson Bridge sites: Just under a half mile walk round trip. The first 100 feet is down a relatively steep (ca. 50 feet elevation drop) trail. The rest of the trail is along an old roadbed.
Hannan Bluff: A short walk along an established trail from the parking area along relatively level ground with no significant elevation change. Total walking is about ¼ mile round trip.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 80 miles
Vehicle: Any
Number of Participants: 15
Meeting time: 9:00 am
Leader: Sara Scott

F5 Painted Canyon (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Description: Painted Canyon sites are about 40 miles southeast of Great Falls. The canyon walls and small rockshelters support paintings that date from the Late Archaic period through the early historic period. The earliest dated shield-bearing warrior and one of the only painted atlatls is here. Access to the sites is by paved and two-track roads. The walk along the canyon bottom is mostly easy, although the climb to a painted rockshelter is difficult.
Difficulty: Access is along the canyon bottom and most sites are easily viewed from the bottom. A climb to the one high painted rockshelter is an 80 foot elevation gain. Total walking round trip about 2 miles. There is a two-track along the canyon bottom that can be followed.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 40 miles paved with a very short two-track
Vehicle: Any
Number of Participants: 15
Meeting time: 9:00 am
Leader: Larry Loendorf

F8 Rainbow Bear, Bear Mask (Half Day) (26 Jun 2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Description: The sites are about 60 miles south of Great Falls. These sites have elaborate bear and shaman paintings. Bring lunch. There is no place to buy food in this area.
Difficulty: The walk from the parking area to Rainbow Bear Cave is about 1500 feet and descends about 120 feet in elevation. Continuing down the canyon about ¾ mile to the next site results in an elevation drop of 300 feet. So, a return to the vehicle means gaining 420 feet in elevation in about one mile. Total walking distance is about 2 miles; no formal trails.
Vehicle Distance (One Way): 60 miles
Vehicle: Any paved and gravel roads
Number of Participants: 15
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Leader: Mavis and John Greer