Petroglyph National Monument was one that I was really excited about visiting. I didn’t know much about it ahead of time, but I knew that there were thousands of petroglyphs at the site. It was definitely a solid stop!
We started at the Information Center where the kids got a video intro to the site and got their Junior Ranger booklets. This area was mostly outdoors with a very small info center and shop. The amphitheater for the video was outside, and maybe it was due to Covid, but the rangers were set up outside under a canopy. Petroglyph National Monument is pretty widespread, and there are not a ton of stops or services around. We had several choices of hike, so we chose to do the one with the most petroglyphs on view and then, if we had time and stamina, we would do the Volcanoes Day Use Area (more on that here!).
We started at the Rinconada Canyon Trail. Again, this area is widespread, and this trailhead parking lot was within a residential neighborhood. The trail was amazing. We walked along the escarpment of this canyon with sweeping views of the canyon and the city. But most importantly, views of hundreds of petroglyphs very clear along the way.
It rained just a tiny bit while we were out, but the temperature was perfect. It was all kind of dramatic- I loved it. 😀
The trail was sandy and there were lots of little spurs to explore.
I felt a lot of emotions viewing these petroglyphs left by people years ago for us to explore and interpret now. It was a really special visit that I enjoyed a lot.
In visiting Petroglyph National Monument, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this area is widespread with lots of geographic- and geologic!- variety. We were traveling with friends, and we were debating how much oomph we had, and we determined that we had enough oomph to tackle The Volcanoes Day Use Area of Petroglyph National Monument.
This area is about a 15-20 minute drive from the Visitors Center. I had read some warnings that there could be some crime and violence in the area and to secure your vehicles. The area is in a pretty remote area, so maybe that is why they said that. We had no trouble on our visit, except the trouble we caused ourselves. 😀 We only ran into one other person while we were out there.
We had experienced a very delightful hike prior to this. When we arrived at The Volcanoes area, it was very windy- there are no trees or rocks to block the wind up here. You are on top of an escarpment overlooking the city of Albuquerque. It was absolutely stunning. And, as I mentioned, windy. We had experienced a little rain up to that point, and as we hiked, we got to experience even more. And wind too!
This area is home to three volcanoes- JA Volcano, Black Volcano, and Vulcan Volcano. A little further north is Bond Volcano. There are a few trails, and we ended up looping all three volcanoes, ascending them and walking up and down. The trail is not especially difficult, moderately rugged, and did feel long due to the wind. Our kids were troopers and it was fun to say we had climbed volcanoes!
Another fun experience was catching the tumbleweeds. I had never gotten to experience one up close like that. It was pretty cool!
On the top of the first volcano- the one you could truly summit- it was so windy, I was worried about the little ones! It was strong. But we had amazing views. The pictures do not do it justice at all, and you can barely tell we are on top of anything. 😀
We did also get to experience sweeping vistas of the city and the Rio Grande Valley. It was gorgeous. We were on the fence about continuing or returning to our car. We continued and conquered the most difficult of all the climbs. Again, the kids did great, so did the adults, and we were all proud of ourselves!
This was a unique and fun hiking experience that I would totally do again in a heartbeat. But was not even my favorite on our New Mexico adventure!
One of our priority stops in New Mexico was White Sands National Park. It is something I have always wanted to see, and I wasn’t sure when or if we would be coming back to New Mexico, so I really wanted to make it happen.
Turns out, we fell completely in love with the Land of Enchantment! So we will definitely be back.
Anyway, we had one day to spend in White Sands. We set out from Santa Fe in the morning. We were behind schedule and it has SNOWED- big surprise! I was very nervous driving through the Glorieta Pass due to the snow, but we had a very lovely drive down. It is about 3.5 hours from Santa Fe to White Sands National Park.
We arrived a little later than I had wanted to, which was okay. The family we were traveling with were nervous about things filling up with the crowds that we encountered. We didn’t have to wait long to get in, we stopped briefly at the Visitors Center and then we were on our way. The park is huge, but there aren’t a ton of roads or anything. In fact, there’s pretty much one road. We didn’t encounter traffic, but we did see some full parking lots.
It was an incredible drive in. At first, there’s white sand and plants, and then the road and the plants disappear and you are surrounded by dunes of white sand. It’s incredible!
We found a place to park and began to explore. Something we were very excited about was sledding down the dunes! I had read lots and lots and lots of information regarding the sledding. We had brought a couple sleds, including those slide boards that are very flexible. These were not the best. They worked, but the sand would get caught up. Our friends bought some long plastic sleds and these were great. The best recommendation we found were for saucer sleds. They also recommended wax. The shop was out of wax, and we did just fine without it. I was grateful our friends had brought their sleds!
These dunes were 40-60 feet tall for the majority of what we were sledding. So the trek back up was no joke! I spent a lot of time sitting in the sand. It is not silica sand as many people think. It is selenite basically. It is unlike any sand I have encountered before. The best part is that it just dusts right off with no problem. I imagined we would all be covered and it was really easy clean up! So we took advantage of sitting in, laying on, and experiencing that sand!
My bucket list item was to see the sunset at White Sands. So the sunset hike was top of my list. We played in the sand all afternoon and we wanted to be early to the sunset hike because I had read that the parking lot fills up quick- they were right! We were early so we hung around that area for a while. Then we went on the ranger-led sunset hike. We learned a ton about the formation of the White Sands. The ranger had dug a hole and there was a wood pole in there. You could see that not very deep below us was water! It was very interesting and engaging for both kids and adults!
Nick was sworn in as a junior ranger right there on the hike- a very unusual but special event! He was very proud.
Then the moment we all been waiting for- the sunset! Oh so glorious. We had clear skies, so not a ton of drama from clouds but there was total drama from our surroundings. Definitely in the top ten sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life.
As soon as the sun dropped behind the mountains, the temp dropped a ton! I couldn’t believe how fast it happened. And then we sadly had to make our way out of the park because it closes.
It is located outside of the town of Alamogordo. We stayed there that evening. Inside of the park, there are no services such as food or lodging. The town is really only about ten minutes away from the entrance to the park, so it is okay.
That evening, we got some Mexican food and in the morning, we began our journey home. We had to stop for some souvenirs though- and to see the largest pistachio in the world! Another perk of staying in Alamogordo. 🙂
I am excited to return here soon and share even more that we discover about the park!
**This post have been in draft for nearly a year…. but in preparing for our triumphant return to the Land of Enchantment, I wanted to get this out into the world!
I was determined to take a hike today. The weather was going to be in the fifties, and after the sub-sub-zero temps last week, I needed to take advantage. Unfortunately, the day got away from us, and we were running out of daylight. I felt some pressure because it is Kareem’s last day off of the break, and life is about to get pretty real on us. So it felt very important to get out there, and we rushed to get out the door.
I don’t really know how it happened, but we decided to take both dogs AND all the kids with us. Kareem didn’t think we could all fit in the car, but lo and behold- we made it work! I knew because I frequently take both dogs. Kareem does not. The kids were excited to go hiking with both dogs!
Because of the weather we have been having, it would be a muddy mess out there, so we needed somewhere paved. And then because of the time of day, we needed somewhere close. So we chose Busch Wildlife and the Fallen Oak Trail.
It was an absolute treat! The sun going down gave us a glowing golden orange. The wind treated us to creaking and clacking tree sounds, which left the kids in wonder. It was beautiful.
It was fun to bring the whole family. I take the dogs frequently together, just me and them. Jam town insisted on walking Jeff, and Marge gave Kareem a run for his money- literally, Kareem was running! 😀
It looks how it felt.
Marge was very reluctant to cross the wooden bridge. She doesn’t like narrow spaces. But she ended up doing it! The kids wanted to take the “shortcut” with the steps up through the woods. They had to cross over a couple fallen trees, so I knew Marge wouldn’t do it. Kareem took Marge the regular way, and I tromped through the woods with the kids.
Bear town brought her basket to forage for fairy finds, like leaves and mushrooms. She is working on a fairy house.
We saw the sun set and the moon rise- a beautiful late winter afternoon.
This trail is short but mighty. It provides lots of habitat for wildlife, and there is a bird blind there which my kids and scouts love. There are informative plaques about the flora of the forest it winds through. Conveniently, it is paved. It is right by the visitor center. There is a pavilion and many picnic tables and some fire pits as well. It’s really great for something quick and/or for families and people who are looking for something short but with a lot of bang for their buck.
I read this the other day- or something similar- Not hitting the goal doesn’t mean you didn’t win.
I absolutely have pretty much always lived by this. It’s not win or lose, it’s win and/or learn always. This year was unique by a mile. And we did not hit all of our hiking goals for this past year. But we still did some amazing things in our hiking world.
One of our goals was to hike out west. For spring break, most of us went on a trip out to New Mexico. One of my favorite trips of all time! This trip involved a TON of hiking. And some really gorgeous and special hikes for our family.
Another goal was to hike in every state that borders Missouri. If you aren’t aware, Missouri has the most states that border it in the union! We did Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois and that was it. Not a great showing.
We did not hike Taum Sauk this year and we did not do any backpacking. Both of these I had thought were low hanging fruit.
One hike per week is what we averaged, but it didn’t actually go one per week. So sort of yes, sort of no.
All in all, I learned a ton this year. We had a lot going on this year. I know everybody does, but one thing that was unique was that both Kareem and I had big professional shifts that had big repercussions for how we were able to spend our time outside of work. The world also opened up, and our kids are getting older. We had more social and extracurricular obligations. We learned a lot about balance.
Not hitting all our goals though didn’t mean we didn’t have some major wins in our hiking world. I did a couple challenges, and in the fall, I was able to really do a lot more hiking than I had up until that point.
Another thing I definitely learned was how much I truly value hiking. I missed it. We bond so much as a couple and as a family during our regular hikes. And I personally gain so much from it as an individual. I am looking forward to a new year- the kids have some great ideas for hiking goals this year! I am hoping to blog more about it this year (as I say every year), but I am not sure how much- every hike, some hikes, a monthly recap? If you have ideas, let me know!
