Yes, you read the title of our post correctly. There are over 21,000 "glyphs" at this site. We decided to visit Three Rivers Petroglph, near Tularosa, New Mexico, and see how many we could find. There are wonderful examples of sunbursts, wildlife, masks, birds, and many mythical rock carvings. They were pecked about a 1000 years ago by a group of prehistoric Native Americans known as Jomada Mogollons.
A rugged 1/2 mile trail leads up into a huge jumble of rocks. They are everywhere and only a few are marked. We crawled among the rocks for a few hours and enjoyed finding some of them. Be sure to take a hiking stick and keep an eye out for rattlesnakes. There are more carvings off the trail too.
Very little is known about the meaning of the rock carvings and there appears to be strong disagreement among scholars. It is thought that they worshipped nature and had a strong connection to their environment. There are certainly lots of them with a mystical quality.  |
| Trail (1/2 mile one way) |
This is a BLM site and there two RV sites available (water only) with nice restrooms and a camphost on the premises. There is also a very nice National Forest campground seven miles further down the road. The sites are primitive and there are nice trails leading up the mountains. We would not recommend these sites for motorhomes due to the rugged roads. However, the BLM sites would work well due to the road being paved to the visitors center.
The weather in New Mexico is perfect right now and the surrounding countryside was so beautiful. Be sure to stop at the trading post as you exit off the freeway. We enjoyed some ice cream after our hike and there is beautiful native jewelry and artwork for sale.
nice tour!..thanks for sharing!..were you lucky enough to get one of the two sites?
ReplyDeleteNeat place! Thanks for sharing the info and pictures. Another place we missed while we were in New Mexico but we'll try and catch it next time.
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