Rinconada Canyon in the Petroglyph National Monument
| An easy trail in Albuquerque offering excellent views of petroglyphs. Like the other trails which are part of the Petroglyph National Monument, (Cliff Base and Mesa Point), you get to see many petroglyphs. However, this trail is longer, and gives you a bit more exercise and different petroglyphs. | |
| Hike data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the trailhead | About the hike | Plants along the trail | Comments |
|
| Date: | 2002-12-18 |
| Time it took us: | 2:17 |
| Usage (people/hour): | 2.19 |
| Cleanliness: | 10 |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| RINCND | Trail point | End of Rinconada Canyon trail |
| RINCTH | Trailhead | Rinconada Canyon in Petroglyph National Monument |
| 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 (Under Blvd,
State Highway 345). Head north on Unser for 2.2 miles. At the
traffic light at St Joseph's, turn left into the trailhead parking.
Note that the park headquarters is beyond Rinconada canyon. If you get
there, you have gone too far.
This area has had several problems with thefts. Do not leave valuables
in your car.
|  |
 | Right after you walk through the gate, you veer right and then left as you meet other trails. You will be walking up the canyon floor. The trail is well marked with arrow signs, such as this one. There are some old trails; they often have signs indicating that they are closed. Please honor these signs and stay on the marked trails. The desert vegetation grows slowly and is fragile. One footstep can do serious damage or kill the plants. Consider taking binoculars with you for better viewing of the petroglyphs from the trail. |
Kangaroo rats live along the trail. Look for a hill with many tunnels; this is where they live. As you hike to the back of the canyon, watch the rocks to your right (north). Most of the petroglyphs in these canyons are on the south-facing slopes. |  |
 | Before this area was a national monument, people used to come out here to do target practice. Unfortunately, several petroglyphs are bullet-damaged, such as the one here (the damage is more visible if you click on the picture to view the larger version). You may also see some remains of clay pigeons, especially at the start of the trail. |
If you travel with one or more friends, you have extra eyes to watch
for the petroglyphs. I have found petroglyphs mainly on the sides
and sometimes on the tops of rocks. Sometimes, short trails lead
off of the main one to clusters of petroglyphs.
|  |
 | As you can see in this picture and the following pictures, it was
snowing fairly hard when I was out (December 2002). However, even
in this snowstorm, I met five people.
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When you get to the back of the canyon, the trail returns by a
different route, further from the canyon wall. However, if there
are not too many people coming up the trail, I recommend that you
turn around and return the way you came. Because you are traveling
a different direction, you will probably see different petroglyphs.
|  |
 | I saw this rabbit only because it moved. Notice how well it blends into
the background.
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The face in this picture is on the corner of the rock.
|  |
 | The artist of this face used a natural hole in the rock for one of the
eyes.
|
I wonder about the ages of some of these. In some cases, you can easily tell that they are modern. In others, you are left to wonder. |  |
Plants we saw along the trail:
Reader comments about this hike:
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Nice site! I LOVE petroglyphs! Were thinking of taking a trip to see this area. Thanks for the photos and explanations! On Tue Aug 8 01:37:16 2006 Erica H from Albuquerque said:
I live only 5 minutes away from Rinconada Canyon and hike it 2-3 times a week; it's an absolute treasure. There are so many new things I tend to see on each hike I never tire of the experience. Each season provides different landscapes due to the changing vegetation. The same plant, say---the salt bush or scorpion plant looks different when dormant in the winter than it does in mid-August. Different flowers bloom in the Spring than in the Fall and rain makes a difference if some come out at all. Besides the varied vegetation, it's always neat to see the occassional collared lizard, beautiful green irridescent beetles, red velvet ants, Coopers' hawks, and rabbits or hearing coyotes sing near dusk. This week was very special. After a downpour I walked Rinconada and there were immense waterfalls in the back of the canyon! Never have I seen that before. A few days later, the areas where water was rushing created large sinkholes in the sand and exposed dirt that hasn't been seen for years. I spotted a large chuck of petrified wood in one of these holes. Very cool. It is worth going to the visitors center to get a pamphlet regarding Rinconada's history. (From formation thousands of years ago - to human dwellings, and interesting information about the Atrisco land grant. Did I mention the petroglyphs?! Since I frequent Rinconada so often, I make sure that I pick up one piece of someone's trash to throw away after the hike each time. (Modern day "Sunny Delight" bottles to crushed beer cans from the 70's.) I want to keep it as pristine as possible. Enjoy! On Tue Aug 15 19:32:36 2006 Mark A. Trujillo from Albuquerque, NM said:
Just finished hiking this trail today with the kids and it is absolutely beautiful with all the rainfall we've been getting. It's amazing how the noise from the street is drowned out as you get further into the canyon. Since I live less than 5 miles from here I will definitely do this hike again. For visitors, I would wait for a cloudy/overcast day to hike it. There is not much shade. On Thu Apr 12 23:21:57 2007 Dale from Albuquerque, NM said:
I enjoy hiking this trail so much, however, I had my car broken into. Not enough security/patrols at this parking lot. Some jerk smashed the window looking to steal what he could. I believe this is a big problem here, as I saw other areas in the dirt parking lot with auto glass chunks scattered around from previous break-ins. I live 2 miles from the entrance, so I will be leaving the car at home and hiking in. 7 mile hike round trip, but who's counting! I recommend having someone remain with your vehicle; or parking further down in the Visitors Center parking lot, and hiking over to Rinconada Canyon via Unser. approx 1 mile. There is a paved jogging/bike trail on the east side of Unser. At least at the Visitors center parking lot, there are Park Rangers on site/on duty. I have seen and heard so many wonderful things during my 4 hikes of the Rinconada Canyon. Each hike is a new and exciting experience. I can only wonder what the Petroglyph's look like at night, during a full moon! Now that would be something to see. Thanks Dale On Mon Jul 14 16:33:07 2008 Jan O from pueblo, co said:
The park is great but they need better security. We took our "very valuables" with us in backpacks but someone still smashed the driver side door window and broke into our car. They ripped out the CD player (not an expensive one) this is a mom-van. Damaged alot of electronics related to the dash while they did it. They took every bag with a handle on it including our cooler of extra water. They took our suitcases which contained only clothes and even an envelope of family photos. These guys are jerks. The park ranger was very nice but it would be better if there was a bus from the visitor center that would pick up folks and drop them off at the trail head. This little visit to New Mexico cost me about $2000 more than I planned due to the damage to my vehicle and theft of which very little will be paid by insurance after all the deductibles. Afterward, we were left with no clothes to change into so we went home a day early to Colorado. Too bad New Mexico, your loosing tourist dollars to these thieves!