2023 Road Trip: Petrogylphs National Monument (5/15/2023)

Monday, May 15, 2023

After visiting Albuquerque, we stopped at the Petroglyph National Monument (1990), which protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols (c 1300 BCE-1680s CE) carved onto volcanic rocks by indigenous Americans and Spanish settlers.

Petroglyph National Monument Visitor Center

Cylindropuntia sp/Cholla cactus fruit

From the Visitor Center, you had to choose a section of the park and drive there. We opted for Boca Negra Canyon.

Bridge across an arroyo/gully formed by flowing water,
which had several animal footprints

We started on the Mesa Point Trail, which was very rocky
and was obviously leading us to the top of the hill;
these petroglyphs were made by ancestral Pueblo people

Petrogyphs are created by removing the rock surface
to create an image with the contrasting color of rock itself

Hmm, we were finding ourselves to be quite elevated

We retreated, and looked back up the hillside

Next we took the Macaw Trail, apparently
named for this petroglyph

Cysteodemus wislizeni/Black Bladder-bodied Meloid (KSS)

Basalt with a trapped layer of natural gas bubbles

Petroglyphs on the Cliff Base Trail

A sun symbol is a dot surrounded by three concentric circles

Four-pointed star petroglyph may be related to the
Zia sun symbol seen on the New Mexico flag

Petrogylphs of human figures on
a rock where the varnished surface
of the rock is peeling away

Mystery petroglyph

A look back reminds us we are in a partial caldera of a volcano

This rock clearly shows the natural color of the
basalt under the rock varnish that is caused by weathering

A couple more petroglyphs

Next: Route 66 in New Mexico continued.