After spending a couple of hours exploring the Mesa Point Trail and Macaw Trail at Boca Negra Canyon, we moved on to another site which is part of Petroglyph National Monument – Piedras Marcadas Canyon.
(n.b. Be sure to check out that previous post as it has more information about Petroglyph National Monument including how they were created, the difference between petroglyphs and hieroglyphs and more.)
It took us a few extra minutes than expected to find the parking lot for the trail because Google Maps took us to the middle of a neighborhood which was a few hundred yards away. If you’ll be visiting Piedras Marcadas Canyon, here’s a link to the parking lot on Google Maps, so you should be able to use that to get directions. It’s behind a Valvoline, so if you see that then you know you’re in the right place.
There’s only one trail at this site – the Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail – so it’s obvious which way you need to head. The trail has a loop in the middle, so you can take a slightly different route on the way there and back. The winding section you see on the map below is where you see the petroglyphs, so you’ll definitely want to take that section at some point.
The parking lot had that map and another information board which provided some more details about Petroglyph National Monument. You can also take a mobile tour while walking along the trail for even more information.
We were trying to practice good social distancing during our visit due to COVID-19, so the fairly wide trail assisted us in doing that, although we didn’t come across that many other people.
In addition to the information board in the parking lot, there are a few along the trail – some larger like in the photo below and some which were much smaller that were text-only.
The Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail is about 0.75 miles each way and it’s fairly flat, so it’s more of a walk than a hike. You have to walk about 0.25 miles before you see any petroglyphs, but then you should start seeing plenty as there are about 400 at this particular site.
Other than a handful of rocks (like the one above), most of the petroglyphs are on rocks that are further up on the hill. That makes them a little harder to find, so if you have a pair of binoculars it’s worth bringing them along, especially if your eyesight isn’t so great.
Finding the petroglyphs can therefore be a fun activity if you’re visiting with kids to see which one can find the most. When you see a large group of petroglyphs together, you could have them try to come up with some kind of story that ties all the pictures together.
Unlike the Mesa Point Trail at Boca Negra Canton, this trail is pet-friendly but your pup has to stay on leash.
One of the interesting things about the petroglyphs is that their visibility when you visit can be affected by sunlight, rain, clouds, etc. You could therefore visit one day and then visit the next and potentially see some different petroglyphs in the distance.
It only takes an hour or so to walk the Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail out and back. In theory it can be much faster seeing as it’s only 1.5 miles round trip, but you’ll stop pretty frequently along the way to check out the petroglyphs.
We headed back to our hotel after this walk, but the following day we visited a third site which is part of Petroglyph National Monument – Rinconada Canyon.
[…] In addition to the Mesa Point Trail and Macaw Trail, Boca Negra Canyon has a third trail – the Cliff Base Trail. We didn’t end up walking along that trail though; instead, we drove over to another of the Petroglyph National Monument sites – Piedras Marcadas Canyon. […]