Petroglyph National Monument
Ancestral Pueblo and later historic carvings cover basalt escarpments along the city’s West Mesa, where rock imagery remains culturally active rather than merely decorative.
Artwork inspired by Helen Hardin
More than twenty thousand petroglyphs are estimated within the monument, most pecked by Ancestral Pueblo people between about 1300 and the late seventeenth century, with additional historic inscriptions. Their meanings are not exhausted by shape identification; descendant Pueblo communities may understand images through place, clan, ceremony, migration, and relationships not available for public decoding.
There is no single entrance trail. Begin at the information center, then drive to Boca Negra, Rinconada Canyon, or Piedras Marcadas according to time and mobility. Look across the whole escarpment rather than hunting only obvious figures, and never touch, chalk, wet, trace, or climb near rock imagery.
- Estimated images
- More than 20,000
- Terrain
- Basalt escarpment
- Allow
- 2–4 hours
Quick guide
- Begin
- Match Boca Negra, Rinconada, or Piedras Marcadas to your time.
- Do not miss
- Do not touch, trace, wet, or climb near images.
Read the site plan at Petroglyph National Monument
- Choose a unit
- Match Boca Negra, Rinconada, or Piedras Marcadas to your time.
- Scan slowly
- Let changing light reveal pecked surfaces.
- Keep distance
- Do not touch, trace, wet, or climb near images.
- Hold uncertainty
- Avoid assigning universal meanings to unfamiliar symbols.
Good to know
The visitor information center has no petroglyph trail; it is where you get orientation before driving elsewhere. Boca Negra has the shortest developed walks and a city parking fee, while Rinconada and Piedras Marcadas are longer and more exposed. Vehicle break-ins occur—leave nothing visible.
Notice these
- Piedras Marcadas Canyon
- Rinconada Canyon
- Five Volcanoes landscape