Messages in Stone Below the Sierra Blanca

Return to the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
My 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico
Saturday, February 15, 2020

After spending an amazing night at White Sands National Park, we stopped in Alamogordo for a quick breakfast and then headed over to the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site so we could spend the rest of the day there. Just like with White Sands, we had visited the Three Rivers petroglyphs Site during our Honeymoon Adventure three years ago, but back then I didn’t realize just how many petroglyphs are found here and we did not have nearly enough time to really explore this area as much as I would have liked, so I’ve wanted to return to spend more time here searching for petroglyphs. This time we planned to spend most of the day hiking along the top ridge until sunset to see what we could find. I was a little concerned that there might not be enough to keep us busy for a full day, but I was again surprised by just how many petroglyphs are found here and we still didn’t have enough time to see them all! I guess a third visit in the future is probably in order the next time we find ourselves down this way!

Welcome to the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.

Before starting to look for petroglyphs, we hiked the short Village Trail to see the ruins at the end.

I took a bunch of photos of all of the petroglyphs that we saw throughout the day, but there are just too many for me to post in this trip report, so I will share some of my favorites and the most unusual ones we came across. Enjoy!

Although we skipped most of the petroglyphs we saw last time, I couldn’t walk past this one without stopping for a quick photo.

Big Boulder Designs

This was an interesting and unusual panel…

I liked the little owl on this boulder.

There were a number of fish petroglyphs found in this area. I can’t ever recall seeing a petroglyph of a fish before?

This little guy at the bottom of the boulder was pretty cool, too!

Checkerboard Sheep

I’m not even sure what this is? Any guesses?

I thought the birds in flight across the bottom of these boulders was pretty cool.

Here’s a closer look at the top of the panel.

Dance With The Devil

Petroglyphs of birds are common around here.

Lizard Rock

Bird & Lichen

We couldn’t believe how many petroglyphs were around here. Just when we thought we had seen them all, we’d find a bunch more.

I like how there appears to be a frame drawn around this scene.

In the Belly of the Beast

Rock Face

We stuck around until after sunset so I could photograph this awesome boulder with a jaguar on it.

Last light on the Sierra Blanca

An evening on the ridge.

After photographing sunset and watching the Earth’s shadow crawl across the sky we hiked back down the trail to the parking lot. We ended up needing to use our headlamps part of the way since it was getting dark out at the trail is pretty rocky. We left the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site behind and drove a few hours to Los Lunas, just south of Albuquerque, where we spent the night as we started our final journey back home.

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