Picnic at the Petroglyphs

The weather warmed up to a balmy 60 degrees.
We took advantage of the beautiful weather.
We packed a picnic, laced up our sneakers,
and headed out for a new adventure. We went
to the Petroglyph National Monument. This is a
national park that contains 20,000 images that were
carved into rocks. Some images were carved 2,000-3,000
years ago by what were to belived to be the ancestors
of the Pueblo Indians. Various groups continued to add thier
markings to the stones. The carvings are of animals,
people, crosses and some picture's meanings only lie with
those who carved them. The rocks were created 150,000
years ago when eruptions of lava flowed from cracks
in the earth's surface. The park is made up of the volacanoes,
various canyons and the petroglyphs. If you want to read
more, you can check out thier website. http://www.nps.gov/petr/

Here are a few of the pictures we took on our hike.

In the 1800's, explorers added thier names and

Christian symbols to the petroglyph carvings.

This stone was used for sharpening weapons and tools

and also for grinding grain for food. You can see

where the dark layer has been worn from use.

In addition to the petroglyphs, there were some

really cool rock formations. I named this one

"Turtle Rock". John doesn't see it at all. What

do you think?

This rock is a great example of how the lava would

cool and then there would be a new layer laid down.

The skinny layers are where gas bubbles were created as

it cooled down.

This sign gave some intersting tidbits about our

area. It was the one mile up marker. Rio Rancho

is at a slightly higher elevation than Albuquerque.

View of Albuquerque and Sandia from 1 mile above sea level.

View of Albuquerque and Sandia Mnts

from the top of the Mesa Trail.

View of the volcanoes that created the rocks where

the petroglyphs were carved. This was also from

the top of the Mesa Trail.

I was taking so long coming back down the trail,

my family took a break to wait for me to catch

up. I was slowly climbing down because I was so

intent on not missing one carving. Well, that and I

am not exactly graceful and was quite concerned

I would tumble down the trail.

This rock had a notch in it that looked like a chair.

The kids took a break to relax a little.

Look!! No jackets and short sleeve

tee shirts!! Jenna was so happy that

we finally stopped to eat our lunch.

"She kept saying, pleassseee can we stop?

My belly is so starrrving. "

From this picture, you would think

Ian hated pb&j sandwiches.

Nap time!

This is a replica of a beehive oven. These ovens

were used by the ancient indians.

As we were walking down the path, this rabbit jumped out

of the rocks and hopped over to the open sand dunes.

In addition to the two rabbits we captured on

camera, we saw two others bound out from the

bushes while we were having lunch. The brochures

say that hawks, millipeds, lizards, roadrunners and snakes

also call this place home. There were rattlesnake

warning signs posted at the beginning of the trails.

Thankfully it is still too cold for them to come out

and play.

John's super sonic ears heard this bunny munching

on some grass on the ledge right behind us. The

rock shelf was about shoulder height. When we

turned around to check it out, we were literally

face to face with this furry little fellow.

This is the view looking down into the canyon.

We watched a boy (10ish) climb down the canyon

(without a path) in only a few minutes.

This is a view of the Sandia Mountains from the

top of the Boca Negra Canyon.