I set up camp at Tetilla Peak on the shore of Cochiti Lake, north of Albuquerque and south of Santa Fe. It took a bit of doing to get backed in. The site was at a weird angle to the road and they had very sturdy posts ringing the sites. Luckily, Christopher, from the next site over helped me get in.
Once in, though, I had quite a view. The mountains in the back.
And the lake in the front.
The lake is manmade, and the campground is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. The water actually comes from the Rio Grande.
I decided to head into Albuquerque to visit Petroglyph National Monument. I headed for the Ranger Station to get information. It turns out that there are three separate petroglyph areas. The ranger talked with me about my level of interest, and I told him about all the different sites I’d already visited. He suggested I take the Piedras Marcadas trail.
I drove over to the north end of the park, about six miles away to the parking area. The Piedras Marcadas Canyon was right in front of a residential area. Since the park is a day use area, those folks have really quiet neighbors.
I set of on this sandy trail toward the basalt stones that contained the petroglyphs.
According to the ranger, these petroglyphs are more recent than the ones that I saw at Three Rivers Petroglyphs Site, about 200 miles south of the National Monument.
They had a different variety of petroglyphs here.
Some I’d never seen before.
Some reminded me of squashed bugs.
These seemed more abstract but the one in the middle reminded me of growing corn.
These seemed like some sort of animal.
A circular design lurked behind a rock.
This canyon is known for its handprint glyphs,
and mask glyphs.
Along the way, I passed a lot of rabbits. Some posed like chocolate Easter bunnies. Others ran away with their ears out.
I still need to figure out what this white rock is on the black basalt.
More hands.
And here is Kokopelli.
There are plants growing on the rocks. I wonder how much longer these rocks will be here?
This circular design was very interesting. I wish I could have gotten closer. Or, maybe a better camera would be nice.
This is also an interesting glyph. It kind of reminds me of Promo the Robot from Rocketship 7.
Or maybe not.
There were more masks.
They almost remind me of pictures my students used to draw of people.
As I said, there were a lot of petroglyphs that were new to me.
The sun came out as I got to the end of the trail and got ready to head back. I wonder if the people who made these petroglyphs looked at these rocks and thought, “Wow! What a lot of rocks I could use!”
And I headed back to my car.