The Enchanting Rock Art of Albuquerque!

More 2020 Adventures

Albuquerque, NM → Santa Fe, NM
85.9 mi (138.2 km)

Happy New Year, everyone!

To kick off my 2020 adventures, I’ve arrived on an Amtrak train in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I hear the towels are oh, so fluffy! I’ll have to test the towels next time, because right now, I’m headed west on a pleasant winter’s afternoon to visit Petroglyph National Monument!

A newer park with older art, Petroglyph National Monument has only been around since June 27, 1990! It’s jointly operated by the National Park Service and the City of Albuquerque, which has caused all kinds of problems. See, the city owns two thirds of the monument land and has fought with the National Park Service over who can patrol what. That leaves a lot of this fantastic rock art unguarded a lot of the time. I went to see what I could see, hoping I wouldn’t find another Painted Rock!

From the visitor center, I headed north to Boca Negra Canyon, the easiest to access and one of the densest collections of petroglyphs in the monument. The reason it’s called Boca Negra, or black mouth, is because of the dark, basalt boulders that cover this escarpment, and presumably because this “canyon” is shaped more like a mouth!

I started the trails in order of length. The first was the Macaw Trail, named for the famous boulder depicting two macaws, one caged and one flying. The Ancestral Puebloan people imported macaws from Mexico for ceremonial purposes, and you can still see evidence of that here and at Tuzigoot National Monument in Arizona!

Next up, I wandered the Cliff Base Trail, a small loop with big faces! Along the way, I learned that most of these petroglyphs date back to between 1,000 BC and 1,700 AD! Their meaning isn’t very clear. The Ancestral Puebloan people saw volcanic landscapes as sacred, so there may be religious significance to the images. The macaws might also be marking a trade route. This was probably a multi-use area!

I wish I knew how to call these characters by their proper names, but those may be lost. Either modern Puebloan folks don’t know, or they would prefer to keep that sacred knowledge within their tribes. So, I was left to marvel at the “Cricket Man” and his accomplice, “Throwing Star Eagle,” along with their background buddies. Were they gods, spirits, or historical figures? It’s a mystery!

Also a mystery, at the base of the Mesa Point Trail, was what appeared to be a map or chart of some kind! Inside, there’s a four-pointed star, some steps, and a three-directioner arrow! Geometric patterns like these are all part of what’s called the Rio Grande style, which popped up abundantly around 1300 AD!

Further up, there was what looked like a lizard with sunshine on its tail, who may as well be named Sunny!

The top of the Mesa Point Trail came with some spectacular views of the city of Albuquerque, but it also brought home just how much the city has crept up around this outdoor art gallery. What did this place mean in the past, and what does it mean today? It’s a real head scratcher!

There are four sections within Petroglyph National Monument, and I only had enough time to see one of them before the sun set. I met up with my friend, Clifton, and his girlfriend, Jennifer, at the Piedras Marcadas (“marked rocks”) trail. This trail proclaimed a multi-generational look into 500+ Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs, and historic crosses etched by Spanish missionaries who were tending sheep in these hills. It was the best bet to see the most before the sunset, so off we went!

At first, I was a little disappointed by this trail. All the petroglyphs seemed so far away and high on the hill! It was going to be tough to see any up close the way I had in Boca Negra Canyon!

But then, after about a mile of walking, there was a huge boulder field, chock full of petroglyphs! There were so many here that I wondered if there were something extra special about this site, or if this had been a depository for boulders relocated when the City of Albuquerque built Unser Boulevard straight through monument land.

I quickly spotted another macaw, as well as something that kind of looked like a penguin. They were right next to a fellow who seemed to be making faces!

A short distance away, there was a stunning portrait of someone in a feathered headdress! Perhaps he was dancing? In any case, the detail and the contrast of this particular petroglyph were especially gorgeous! I wonder if it had to do with where it was placed on the rock. Some petroglyphs were placed on their boulders to align with the sun at certain times of day!

Whatever the meanings of these mysterious rock creatures, I am glad that their likenesses have survived so long! They are beautiful remnants of a civilization shrouded in enigma, enough to make us wonder what we’re missing.

The sun came down, which meant it was time to chomp some stir-fried noodles at Viet’s Pho and head north to my hotel, the Villas de Santa Fe! A huge surprise awaited me, and that huge surprise was that I was staying in a whole apartment with a living room and kitchenette and a huge bed and a huge bathroom! I felt a little out of place in such luxury, but I was not going to complain!