Petroglyph National Monument

This past week we made a few trips to the Petroglyph National Monument along Albuquerque's West mesa for some hikes. Loyal readers know that we usually visit Boca Negra Canyon, but this time we visited two other areas of the monument.

On Wednesday, Isaac and I went to the Volcanoes section, a series of three long-dead volcano cones along the western edge of the city. The trails wind along the base of all three volcanoes for about four miles, but we just did the first part, a one-mile in-and-out near JA Volcano. Here Isaac leads the way with the volcano in the background:
A series of shelters along the way provide some shade and rest. The clouds billowing up to the east eventually turned into a nice monsoon storm, but while we were hiking it was still pretty sun and warm.

After climbing the eastern edge of the cone, we turned around and hiked back to the car. The scrub grassland of the mesa is typical of this part of the state--too high and cold in the winter for the cactus and yucca of the deserts, too dry and warm for the pinon and juniper. Storms also tear across the mesa; we once got caught in a torrential downpour driving Paseo del Volcan, the road leading to the volcanoes.

On Saturday, the whole crew suited up early to hike Rinconada Canyon. This three-mile loop leads into the heart of a box canyon at the base of the escarpment, where hundreds of petrogylphs line the south-facing rocks. The hike itself is pretty easy, but three miles is still a bit much for the kids. Summer--who made this hike too, in her continuing efforts to bring on labor--and I spotted three or four small rabbits, and once away from the street noise, the canyon is full of songbirds, and we even saw a good number of hummingbirds. Here the kids pose for a before shot: