Piedras Marcadas

 

Last Friday, Arlo and I took a walk at Piedras Marcadas Canyon, which is a little corner of Petroglyph National Monument, a few miles away from the main monument area and barely connected by a thin strip of land, but with a good number of petroglyphs. I tried to take a photograph of every petroglyph I could find, and I took about 60 pictures. The website for Piedras Marcadas (marked rocks, in case you had not guessed) says there are about 400 petroglyphs in the area, but as you can see, sometimes there are several in one photo, so maybe I got most of them. The website also says they are 400 to 700 years old.

There were five marked viewing areas where the drawings are most abundant; however, looking for petroglyphs is a little like looking for mushrooms. Some are easy to spot, but you have to be patient and keep looking. and when you see one, there are likely to be more.

It was a short, easy walk - less than two miles - and dogs are welcome as long as you pick up after them.

Some of the pictures are faint now. Some are to the point that it's hard to be sure you are looking at a petroglyph and not just lichen or erosion. There are several that look similar to this bird. It looks to me like it could be a roadrunner.

This guy took a long look at Arlo and me, but when he moved, he moved away from us.

An early emoji.

The hand is a well-known landmark in the canyon. Most of the petroglyphs are at least a few yards from the trails, but this one is just a few feet.

I like this one, because the man on the right is upside down and appears to be falling. This picture supports my (very unscholarly) theory that the pictures are just graffiti. Signs are unclear about whether the petroglyphs have any particular meaning.

This is the only one I saw where they just drew around a corner.