Petroglyph National Monument, NM…

Petroglyph National Monument is located just outside the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is a large park as it stretches 17 miles along the city’s western edge. The landscape is of a volcanic basalt escarpment that is dotted with four winged saltbush, sage, and cactus. Not only will you find petroglyphs here but the park also has five volcanic cones on its premises.

The petroglyphs can be found on the parks 3 distinct sites and are managed jointly by the National Park Service, the State of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque. There are no admission fees in thef park. However there is a parking fee at the Boca Negra Unit ($1.00/car on weekdays; $2.00/car on weekends). We opted to hike the longer trail at 2.2 miles at the Rinconada Canyon unit.

The hike we took was only 2.2 miles round trip and as a result we didn’t even carry any water due to how short it was. The trail itself was pretty easy hiking except for several stretches of loose sand which made our forward progress much slower.

It makes for a nice walk as we went opposite the recommended route so we could get a nice one mile walk in before we hit our first petroglyphs since they are mostly found along the rocky basaltic outcroppings on the edge of the escarpment. Once we started seeing petroglyphs it was exiting as we encountered several that appeared to be animals or people and some were what seemed to be symbolic symbols.

And then we saw it… Graffiti! Now why would anyone feel compelled to deface such a historical and symbolic piece of our American culture? It is simply tragic but an unfortunate circumstance of having such a beautiful park near the largest city in New Mexico. Unfortunately for us it made the rest of our walk less enjoyable as we found ourselves questioning which petroglyph was real and which was a fake. Some were obviously fake unless the native Americans who originally etched these artistic renderings saw a lot of smiley faces or aliens…

Oh well, at least we had a nice walk along a very historical basalt escarpment with  nice views of the Sandia Mountains to the east. We also enjoyed seeing the scaled quail, curve billed thrashers and listening to the ethereal sounds of the canyon wrens. All in all a good walk but not a place to see the Petroglyphs as there are many  better spots to do that and with much less vandalism…

I will leave you with this photograph below of a Scorpion Weed Phacelia integrifolia, a plant that was used medicinally by local native peoples. The powdered root or leaves are mixed with water and rubbed on sprains, swellings and rashes. I name the below picture “Persistence” as it somehow finds a way to eek out a living on the the face of a chunk of volcanic basalt…

Albuquerque, New Mexico…

We left Abbey, our motorhome, at the Hacienda RV resort for a week so she could rest while we went north in our toad to Albuquerque, New Mexico where we will visit with one of Sharon’s best friends Vicki. The 220 mile drive up Interstate 20 is pretty much a straight shot not unlike the stretch of Interstate 10 in Texas from Fredricksburg to El Paso.

Interstate 20 does parallel the Rio Grande River so the shades of browns, yellows and pinks of the surrounding countryside are occasionally interspersed with the lush greens provided by the vegetation near the river. Not many towns to get in your way but one with an interesting name came about midway there, the town of Truth or Consequences.

From Wikipedia,  Truth or Consequences got its name as follows: “Originally named Hot Springs, the city changed its name to Truth or Consequences, the title of a popular NBC radio program. In 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host of the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Hot Springs won the honor.” Strange but true…

We arrived at our friends house just in time for happy hour so we sat and talked about the past and caught up with each others lives. As we got hungry I suggested we seek out something fast but it had to serve red and green chili sauce, what New Mexico is famous for. Vicki took us over to a little dive that served excellent Carne Adovada with red and green chili. We liked it so much that the next morning we revisited it for some Huevos Rancheros… Yum Yum!!! Read about this little spot on Road Treats!

No visit to Albuquerque is complete without a visit to old town, Old Town gives one a chance to see some of the local architecture. The adobe store fronts that are so typical of New Mexico buildings from that era and adobe is still very prevalent in todays architecture. We primarily went to Old Town for a nice walk and to take in the sights however, there is ample opportunity to shop, eat some great New Mexican food, or visit the old church or courtyard in Old Town. Todays blog photos are from our walk in town…