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Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America. It’s located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Petroglyph National Monument contains an estimated 24,000 images carved by Ancestral Puebloans and Spanish settlers. Most of them date between the beginning of the 14th through the end of the 17th centuries, but some were carved up to 3,000 years ago. The site was declared a National Monument on June 27, 1990.
Visiting
Petroglyph National Monument is a fee-free park (as of May 2023). The visitor center has no exhibits, but provides information and has a gift shop.
There are four areas open to the public. They are Boca Negra Canyon, Rinconada Canyon, Piedras Marcadas Canyon, and the Volcanoes Day Use Area. All of them are within a 6 ½ mile drive from the visitor center, and all of the park’s trails are open year-round.
Areas
Boca Negra Canyon is the most fully developed area of the park, with restrooms, shade, and a water fountain. It consists of three short trails and about 100 petroglyphs that can be seen within an hour of walking. There’s a US$1 parking fee on weekdays and US$2 on weekends (as of May 2023). The area is open 8:30am to 4:30pm daily, with the last entry at 4pm strictly enforced.
Rinconcada Canyon has a vault toilet but no water. There’s a 2.2 mile round-trip trail of easy to moderate difficulty where you can see up to 300 petroglyphs. The parking lot is open daily from 8am to 5pm.
Piedras Marcadas Canyon has no facilities. The trail is easy to moderate difficulty and is 1 ½ miles round-trip. There are around 400 petroglyphs along the trail.
Finally, the Volcanoes Day Use Area has vault toilets but no other facilities. There’s a trail system that’s broken down into three trails ranging from easy to moderate. The shortest trail is a mile long to the JA Volcano and a scenic overlook. The next trail is two miles long to the Vulcan Volcano and back to the parking lot. The longest trail takes hikers past all three volcanoes at the site and is 3 ½ miles long. The Volcanoes Day Use Area is open daily from 9am to 5pm.
Due to time constraints, we were only able to fit in Boca Negra Canyon. I hope to return to the park one day to complete the other trails. When I do, I’ll break up this entry into four separate entries for each area.
Mesa Point Trail
At Boca Negra Canyon, there’s a loop road running counter-clockwise and three trails along the road. First is the Mesa Point Trail, which should take about 30 minutes to complete.
The trail heads up to the top of Mesa Point, where there’s a great view of Albuquerque. There are also several impressive petroglyphs along the way.
Macaw Trail
The second trail is the Macaw Trail, which should take about five minutes to complete. There was a petroglyph of what looks like a macaw along this trail.
Cliff Base Trail
The third and final trail at Boca Negra Canyon is the Cliff Base Trail. It contains several petroglyphs and should take about 15 minutes to complete.
