Weather or Not, Here I Come!

The temperature highs are now in the mid to high 90's.

It is hot! It is the time of year to go out earlier in the day!

Ella and I went to Boca Negra Canyon,

which is a part of the Petroglyph National Monument.

The rocks are volcanic basalt rocks from early volcanoes.

They were carved mostly by Pueblo people from the years
1300 to around 1680.

The Petroglyph National Monument is on the mesa

on the west side. It was dedicated as a national monument

in 1990. I believe that this was related to the expansion

of Albuquerque and houses being built on the west side.

Boca Negra  Canyon has a  hillside down a mesa top.

The hillside is covered with the dark, basalt rocks.

It has no trees for shade and dark colored rocks

creating a hot environment in the heat of summer.

Visiting early in the morning meant that the temperature

was in the mid 70's. It was not a long visit.

Boca Negra Canyon does have several tables with

covers over them for people to rest or picnic.

There is an area with bathrooms, trash and recycling disposal,

and a board with more information.

 The map below shows how large the Petroglyph National Monument

is in its preserved area, and the small park where we were at.

Ella and I looked for a few more petroglyphs.

A few petroglyphs were more bold or took up more space.

A few were not as dark.

The park states that the trails are paved. They do have asphalt,

but the paving is not flat and does not eliminate small or larger

rocks in the way. 

I was thankful for stairs and rails when we found them!

I don't see petroglyph carvings from every angle,

but am quite impressed by the slope of rocks.

The black rocks below are my impression

of what volcanic rocks look like.

Toy Sunday
Weather or Not, Here I Come!

There is an estimated 24,000 petroglyphs

within the National Monument, with 90% of them

being from the Pueblo people.

We enjoyed the ones that we were able to see!

It was a nice trip out:

despite the heat of July, here we came!