Review of Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico: The largest concentration of petroglyphs in North America

 

Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico 

When I was growing up, a close friend of mine (and his family), did a cross country road trip that would cover all of the popular sights along the western states.  There were several national parks they would visit during that trip, and my buddy would tell me of all his fantastical experiences on that road trip.  The one that stuck with me, out of all the places he mentioned, was the Petroglyph National Monument.  

I’m not sure why it stuck with me, but the word ‘petroglyph’ just seemed very ancient and fascinating.  I would look up the definition and found out the word means a rock carving, usually prehistoric.  For an adolescent growing up in the mean concrete jungles of New York City, the idea of a cross country road trip as well as exploring prehistoric rock carvings seemed like a fantasy, a pipe dream.

My wife and myself’s early retirement would change the equation from a pipe dream into a reality where we can finally visit the Petroglyph National Monument in December 2022.  We had couple of things that lined up perfectly for our cross country road trip:  1) We had plenty of time on our hands since our early retirement, and 2) We had returned our leased vehicle of 3 years and finally bought a car.

Reason #1 listed above should be fairly self evident.  Early retirement allows time, and plenty of it, to do the things we always wanted to do.  Instead of taking the usual one week vacation (or even a two week vacation) while we worked, we can now decide to spend as much time as we want to.  Thanks to reason #1, we would end up taking a two and a half month cross country road trip that began on November 28th (2022) and ended on February 9th (2023).

Reason #2 listed above finally broke our mental shackles of always worrying about our mileage on our leased car, that had 12,000 miles per year allowance.  With our previous leased car, we couldn’t drive somewhere like the west coast as we would easily rack up 10,000 miles to go from the east coast to the west coast, then back.

All the stars aligned this time and we finally got on our cross country trip to the southwest and the west coast.  I would finally get to visit Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico, which I had always wished to!

On a sunny afternoon of December 20th, we left from White Sands National Park for Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We chose to stay at our hotel, Homewood Suites, for 3 nights, as we wanted to make sure we had enough time to see several attractions near the city, including Petroglyph National Monument.

By the time we arrived at our hotel in uptown Albuquerque, the sun was beginning to set across the western skies of Albuquerque.  We checked in with a very friendly front desk staff member, and was very pleased with our room.

It was a one bedroom suite with a separate living room and a full kitchen.  Although we didn’t want to use the full kitchen, we appreciated the fact that we had one if we needed it.  We also got the top floor of the hotel, giving us nice views of the downtown area and the mountains in the distance.



The following morning, we helped ourselves to an awesome complimentary hot breakfast, including eggs, sausages, fruits, waffles, and coffee(yes!) in the lobby area.  We then headed off to see Petroglyph National Monument, about 20 minutes from our hotel. 

We arrived at the visitor center, and found out the trails were actually not located at the visitor center.  After briefly chatting with a ranger, we took a map of the place, then drove about 10 minutes to Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail.

At the trailhead of Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail
Heading over to the trail!

Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail contains some of the best places to view the petroglyphs.  Thanks to the ranger’s detailed instructions, we were able to find the trailhead parking lot across the street from a gas station.  After parking, we headed towards the trail.




We met a friendly volunteer at the trail, and we all agreed the weather was just beautiful.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day!  We had walked not more than 2 minutes when we looked around.  The views were expansive, with mountains in the distance.  We already loved the trail!






Up on the trail, it really felt like we were in the southwest, with its desert setting with sparse vegetation.  Cacti were the norm, and mountains were devoid of tall trees.  After walking another few minutes, we finally saw first of hundreds of those fascinating petroglyphs!

The petroglyphs were made by ancestors of the modern Pueblo people.  They used sharp stone tools to carve these onto rocks.  It’s believed these were made sometime after 1300’s, all of which we found incredibly fascinating.

Petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument 


We took our time viewing all these petroglyphs along the trail.  Some depicted human figures while others depicted animal or inanimate objects.  We imagined ancient Puebloan artists taking their time carving these onto the very same rocks we were looking at.  Just incredibly fascinating…

Each turn of the trail revealed yet more of these petroglyphs.  We took the long way by walking the side trails, making it a decent hike at little over a mile.  

During the walk, we realized how hot it must get during the summer months when temperatures may reach over 90 degrees out on the high desert.  Even during our hike in December, the sun was hot, and there was no shade along the trail!  We ended up drinking water often, even though the trail was only about a mile long.

One important tip when traveling to this part of America is this:  Bring water, some snacks, and use plenty of sunblock even during winter months!  Bring a hat if you have one.  I didn’t, and I got a decent sunburn after several days of driving and hiking.

We completed our walk of the trail after about an hour or so.  We were approaching lunch time, so we headed back to our hotel area, and picked up some tasty Italian food from a nearby restaurant called Saggio’s Uptown.  Shrimp Diablo was very good, and so was the Californian Vegetarian pizza.  The portions were big so we had leftovers for dinner the same night.  What a great day of exploring and enjoying tasty foods!

Saggio’s Uptown, Albuquerque, NM


In conclusion:

My fascination with petroglyphs were justified after seeing it in person at the Petroglyph National Monument.  It was totally fascinating to see works of art that’s several hundred years old somehow managing to remain intact, even though it was exposed to all sorts of hostile elements like the rain, snow, sun, etc., outside.

Imagining what those Puebloan artists thought about when they decided to carve these may be a fool’s errand.  However, we all share one thing in common, which is that we are all human beings.  They most likely thought similarly about things that matter the most like family, wanting to leave a legacy behind for future generations, and the need to be creative.  We can all relate to those…

It definitely got me thinking about my need to be creative and my little need to leave something behind for my future generations in these humble blog posts I’m writing.  To that end, I’m exactly like the Puebloan artists of yesteryear…

Be creative everyone.  For one thing, you’ll feel great, and for another, we can all relate to wanting to leave something behind for later generations…

Thank you all for reading and happy trails!


Jake

Wandering Money Pig 



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