Red Rock, Historic rock formation in Sweetwater County, Wyoming.
Red Rock is a wind-smoothed sandstone boulder in south-central Wyoming, about 20 feet (6.1 m) high with a circumference of roughly 120 feet (37 m). It is rust-red to brown, wider at the base and tapering toward the top, its surface split by vertical cracks and horizontal seams into blocky sections, with a recessed hollow near the left base.
Red Rock earned its place on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1978, not for its geology but for the signatures travelers carved into it on the Overland Trail. Those inscriptions date to at least the 1850s, when emigrants passed the sandstone boulder on their way west. The rock stands on privately owned land in south-central Wyoming.
Travelers on the Overland Trail carved their signatures into the rock from at least the 1850s, using it as a register of passersby. The wind-smoothed sandstone kept these inscriptions, though those on the upwind side have weathered to faint traces. The name comes from the stone's red colour.
Red Rock stands on privately owned land in south-central Wyoming, so access requires the landowner's permission; view it from a respectful distance otherwise. The wind-smoothed sandstone is about 20 feet (6.1 m) high with a circumference of roughly 120 feet (37 m). The signatures on the upwind side have weathered to faint traces, so look closely in low, angled light.
The signatures were carved into the upwind face of the rock, and that same exposure has worn them down to faint traces, while the sheltered side keeps clearer marks. The boulder sits on private land, so it is seen from a distance or with the owner's permission.
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