You have reached Stop 7, the final stop in the Piedras Marcadas Canyon audio tour. You are now 1.07 miles, or 1.7 kilometers from the trailhead. Turn around to return to the parking lot which is 0.7 miles, or 1.1 kilometers from this point. If continue up the escarpment and follow the North Rim trail, it will be an additional 1.4 miles, or 2.25 kilometers to the main parking lot.
We cannot say for certain what all the petroglyph images represent. It is inappropriate to reveal the meanings of some images according to local Pueblo people. Some images are recognizable and can be identified based on current anthropological studies. Such images include human handprints like the ones found here, which can be found at pictograph and petroglyph sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley and the San Juan Basin.
While these human handprint images are located along the escarpment, the Ancestral Pueblo people did not live here; rather, they lived in multi-storied adobe villages along the Rio Grande Valley. The cinder cones and the volcanic escarpment and natural landscape features served as landmarks to find and follow travel routes to neighboring Pueblo communities.
This is the end of the Piedras Marcadas Canyon Petroglyph Viewing Trail. This area continues to inspire and be a part of the Indigenous communities here. We hope you enjoyed your hike and thanks you for your support in preserving this living cultural landscape and for visiting Petroglyph National Monument.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service