Spirit Rock

Spirit Rock, originally uploaded by craptastica.

This weekend I went to Petroglyph National Monument. Its right there at the malignent growth that has attached itself to the eastern Albuquerue. There were four houses under construction across the street from the visitors center alone.

Yet this was a land that had been called home in the past by many different people and for many years. I went to an area called Rinconada Canyon (by the way if you haven't noticed by now, everything on my side of New Mexico is a canyon or a mesa). This was a mile-long canyon with its mouth pouring into the city of Albuquerque. Its dark volcanic rocks that poke out from a full carpet of yellow and green make it a striking contrast to the grey city beyond.

This canyon is where the spirits fly. They swoop up the canyon walls in the morning groaning as they scrape against the sharp igneous corners of the slope - Rinconada. They play all day on the mesa top hidden by the sun. Running across the barren desert caressing dry, scattered trees.

At night they snake down the mountain slope and steal away into crevices in the rocks. They watch the city lights sparkle. This is where the petroglyphs tell their story.