La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs is a scavenger hunt on BLM land south of Santa Fe. https://www.blm.gov/visit/la-cienequilla-petroglyphs
We found this great hike because the Petroglyph National Monument is still closed due to COVID restrictions. We plan to return when they all open up but this hike was such a great substitute.
The hike starts with a short walk that takes you along a barbed-wire fence that opens up and a rock arrow points you in the right direction. From there, you are free to explore and find all the petroglyphs located near the top of the mesa. There really isn't a trail as you hike around and over rocks to see the next fascinating petroglyph once you get to the top of the mesa. We headed south and followed the mesa to find each petroglyph.
These petroglyphs date back from pre Colombian times by Pueblo natives and extend through Spanish Colonization timeframe and hold significant spiritual meaning for those who created them. It's important to be respectful of these carvings to preserve them and honor the meaning behind it.
The hundreds of petroglyphs are carved in volcanic rock on a mesa overlooking Santa Fe river. Watch out the rock can be really hot to touch! We walked for about a mile climbing over and around rocks to find all the different carvings. We found that we would have to study each area of rocks and different carvings would peek out. Sometimes, you could tell they were from different time eras by the type of carving.
There were so many types of carvings to be found. Many of them we didn't know what they represented or what era they came from. But we did decipher birds and lizards along with the circle of life to be the most common. We also saw many kokapellis and human figures (we think!) One of our favorites appeared to be of a family and we called it the first family car bumper sticker.
This place is definitely worth your time to explore and appreciate those who took the time to carve these. Each petroglyph has meaning and these ancestors left their mark for us to appreciate and wonder about their meaning. What mark or legacy do we intend to leave behind?
