Banner image: Steven C. Price, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The monument comprises rock art sites that date to the Ancestral Pueblo and Spanish colonial eras.
From the website of Petroglyph National Monument:
Petroglyph National Monument is a day-use park, which means the visitor center and each of the trailhead parking lots close at 5:00 p.m. Boca Negra Canyon is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. daily. Visitors are allowed to hike the trails at the Volcanoes Day Use Area, Rinconada Canyon, and Piedras Marcadas Canyons from sunrise to sunset by simply parking outside of the gated parking lots.
Although we suggest that all visitors make their first stop at the visitor center, it is important to know that there are not any petroglyph viewing trails at the visitor center. (If you are being dropped off at the visitor center, please ask the driver to wait for you since you will need to be driven to the actual petroglyph viewing trailhead.) [The address listed at right is for the visitor center.]
While at the visitor center, park staff will inform you of your trail options based on your timeframe and the degree of difficulty of the trail, then provide you with driving directions to the trail of your choice. Be sure to get your official park brochure and trail maps while there because you may not make it back by 5:00 p.m.
Travel time through the park is at least 30 minutes to 4 hours, though the average visit is 1-2 hours.
Trail-specific information is at this link.
