1000 year-old petroglyphs await you on this short hike near Albuquerque. In spite of the hike being so short, it has a lot of interesting petroglyphs and lava formations.
Cliff Base Trail at Boca Negra Canyon in the Petroglyph National Monument
| 1000 year-old petroglyphs await you on this short hike near Albuquerque. In spite of the hike being so short, it has a lot of interesting petroglyphs and lava formations. | |
| Hike data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the trailhead | About the hike | Plants along the trail | Comments |
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| Date: | 2003-01-26 |
| Time it took us: | 0:30 |
| Usage (people/hour): | 0.00 We hiked right before park closing. |
| Cleanliness: | 9 |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| BNCCBT | Trailhead | Cliff Base trailhead at Boca Negra Canyon |
| Map name | Cartographer | Year | Scale | Topo map? | Online access | Notes |
| Albuquerque New Mexico | USGS | 1983 | 1:100000 | Y | from sar.lanl.gov (free) | |
| Guide to Indian Country of Arizona Colorado New Mexico Utah | Automobile Club of Southern California | 1998 | 1:0 | N | Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (purchase) | Good overview road map for northwest NM. No scale is given on the map. The corner coordinates are approximate. |
| Wildernesses of New Mexico | US Forest Service | 1981 | 1:1000000 | N | No online copies. | Base map with national forests, wilderness areas and highways. |
From I-40 Westbound from Albuquerque, take exit 154 (Unser Blvd,
State Highway 345). Head north on Unser for 4.6 miles. Just past
Montaño where Unser is about to climb to the mesa top, turn right
on Atrisco (which dead-ends on the mesa top, just past the entrance to
another picnic area). Go another 0.3 miles. The entrance to the park
is on the right. Go around the loop road until you see a sign indicating
the parking area for this hike.
The parking lot is small, and you might have to park elsewhere and hike
over to the trailhead. Trails lead between all of the parking areas,
so this is not a problem. According to the map, overflow parking is
near the building just outside the entrance. A sign indicates that it
is bus and RV parking.
| No image |
| No image | The trailhead is to the west (left as you look at it) of the toilet
building.
|
 | This trail is short, but it has many good petroglyphs.
|
You can also see interesting lava formations.
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Plants we saw along the trail:
Reader comments about this hike:
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