Three Rivers Petroglyphs

The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site north of Alamagordo New Mexicois is one of the few locations in the Southwest set aside solely because of its rock art. The number and concentration of petroglyphs here make it one of the largest and most interesting petroglyph sites in the Desert Southwest.

There is a picnic area near the start of the trail that provides access to the glyphs. We drove past it on the way in but were mislead by signs that said the "campground" was about 13 miles farther on a dirt road. After driving there we discovered that was not where we wanted to be. We were prepared to stay anyway but could not find a camp site that was level enough so drove back to the picnic area. There are two RV spaces there with water and electric hookups, and we got one of them.

Our site had a beautiful view and was very quiet and peaceful. The gate is locked at 5:00 pm and does not reopen until 8:00 the next morning so we had no choice but to stay in camp in the evening. There is no place to go anyway. The nearest town is about 20 miles.

Petroglyphs at Three Rivers were created by Jornada Mogollon people between about 900 and 1400 AD. The site includes the remains of a Mogollon village whose inhabitants were likely responsible for the petroglyphs. The site, which was partially excavated in 1976, was occupied for about 400 years.

All of the glyphs we saw were carved on loose bolders and were fairly small. There are some larger ones deeper in he site but we didn't try to reach tem because there were a lot of rattlesnakes in that area at the time.

Nearby there is a small chapel called Santo Nino. It is just shy of 100 years old and is still in use. The building is not particularly remarkable but I liked the way the late afternoon sun was lighting up the bell tower.

The interior of the chapel was lavishly decorated in a style typical of the southwest.

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