Rust Painted These Colorado Badlands

Driving through the eastern plains of Colorado, you see that the land is predominantly flat. Outside of Calhan, however, the land takes on a maze-like formation of bright colored rocks.

The Paint Mines Interpretive Park is a patch of badlands in the middle of the prairie. The park contains deep gullies and hoodoos, which are rock spires that appear throughout the land. The ground looks as if someone spilled giant buckets of pastel paint across the land.

Where The Colors Come From

The colors come from rocks composed of layers of clay and sandstone. Millions of years ago, the area was a wetland. Over time, the mud and sand settled to the ground and turned into rock.

The coloring of the sandstone and clay comes from rust. The sandstone contains iron compounds. Exposed to air and water over thousands of years, the sandstone developed rust. This is the same process that creates rust on old cars.

The rusting creates reds and oranges in the sandstone. The purple and yellow minerals in the sandstone create bright colors in those rocks. The white sandstone layers contain no iron within the rock.

Carving The Rock Towers

Beyond the colorful rocks are the hoodoos. These rock spires grow tall out of the ground and have a skinny look. The hoodoo formations result from the different compositions of the sandstone layers within the area.

The colored clay at the bottom of these sandstone formations is soft. It tends to wear away from the rain and the wind. However, hard sandstone layers sit atop these soft clays. The sandstone layer protects the clay below the sandstone from rainwater. The clay on the sides of these sandstone formations wears away over time.

All that remains are the hoodoos, composed of soft rock, that balance atop a sandstone capstone.

A Natural Art Supply

The area derives its name from the clay used there. For thousands of years, Native Americans traveled to the Paint Mines to gather clay and minerals from the land.

The clay minerals are bright pink, purple, and yellow. These minerals were ground up and mixed with animal fat to make paint. This paint was used to create pottery pieces and decorate ceremonial objects.

Today, Paint Mines has become a protected park. While visitors are allowed to walk through the colorful canyons, they are not permitted to take any clay out of the park. The hoodoos are still being carved into the sandstone by the rain and the wind that travel through the area.