11/07/03 Three River Petroglyph Recreation Area:
I headed south out of Utah last week because of the cold. I'm really headed to Colorado to visit friends later this week but it will be colder there than Utah. Once down to Tucson things warmed up nicely and I headed east along I-10 to Las Cruces and then north on I-25.
I stopped off at Three River Petroglyph Recreation Area. This is between Alamogordo and Carrizozo on US-54. The petroglyph site is a ridge with jumbled boulders from volcanic activity in the past. For whatever reason, the Mongollon Indians created over 20,000 petroglyphs over the years.
These are quite different from the Anasazi Indian petroglyphs of Utah and northern New Mexico. These are mostly maze type patterns with just a few of people, animals, birds, etc. A trail leads about 2 miles along a ridge with many, many petroglyphs scratched into 4-5 foot boulders. None of the petroglyphs are very deep and they are being eroded away.
11/09/03 Petroglyph National Monument:
Go up here to Albuquerque last night. The Petroglyph National Monument is in the northwest section of Albuquerque and I headed up there this morning. The visitor center directed me to an area with 3 short trails. There where fewer petroglyphs than Three Rivers and they seemed more faded. And that was all they told me about.
Looking at the park map they gave I saw Rinconada Canyon might be interesting and stopped off there. This is a 1.5 mile (one sided) canyon of more jumbled volcanic boulders. Keeping an eye out for spur trails brought me to some of the better petroglyphs I saw in either park.
All in all I think Three Rivers should be the National Monument and Petroglyphs should be the Recreation Site.
11/27/01:
Just trying to get things up to date, a little.
Continued north to visit friends south of Denver. While there, my buddy suggested going out to look at vans for something to do. I'm now the proud owner of a 2003 Dodge Ram Van 2500 and a new resident of Colorado. I got almost $8000 in savings and couldn't walk away from the deal. During the next 2.5 days we insulated, carpeted floor and walls, installed cabinets and built a bed. I'm breaking it in now while on the road.
Headed south to Durango and other friends. About a foot of snow down there. Went on a nice hike into the San Juan Mountains near Vallencito Lake and then a drive in an open 1964 Willis Jeep up a few thousand feet into the snow covered mountains. The sun was out on the way up but I got chilled on the way back.
Then picked up an intestinal virus from a woman. First sickness in about 8 years. I wasn't really sick, feverish and all that stuff... just had a bad case of the trots. Didn't eat much for a couple of days and then threw up food eaten 2 days ago. I was fine after that.
Left in a raging blizzard that last mostly to Albuquerque, NM. The wind was blowing too hard for anything to settle on the road. Overnighted the first time in the van. I had my little Coleman catalytic heater but 3000 BTU is not enough to counteract 10 degree weather.
Continued south to Las Cruces and then west on I-10 and I-8 into Arizona. Ready now for Thanksgiving and winter.