Rinconada Canyon on the west side of Albuquerque provides about a 2.5 mile hike with some nice petroglyphs to view.

My daughter Krystal taking a break during the hike.

My daughter Chauntel got stuck with the dog.

Looking into Rinconada Canyon.  At the deepest point, you're only a little over a mile away from the hustle and bustle of Albuquerque, but it is so quiet and seems like thousands of miles away from the nearest city.

Grazing sheep and a snake.

 More snakes.

One of our favorite petroglyphs ... the guy with his hands to his waist.

My guess would be this is a thunderbird.

At the deepest part of the canyon is when you get to the best petroglyphs.  My name for this set is "The Group".

Before Albuquerque became the movie-making capital it has become today, back in 1976 a science fiction/horror movie was filmed partly in the petroglyph area--Track of the Moonbeast.  That film has a lot of location shots in and around Albuquerque ... the city looked so much smaller and different then.

At the deepest point of Rinconada Canyon--looking back toward Albuquerque--except for the high tension lines in the distance, there is no sign of city!  The Sandia Mountains are in the background about 17-miles away. 

This photograph was on the home page of my old Desert Pirate website with Geocities.

Robyn at the heart of Rinconada Cayon.

 I call this guy "The Alien".

These pictures were taken back in 2003 with a cruddier camera.  Here is Krystal being the "Vanna White" of the volcanoes.

Krystal wanting to rest on the bench ... and we just got started on the hike!

The view from on top of the volcano named JA.

Looking at the parking area a half-mile away from the top of JA.  Mt. Taylor near the city of Grants, is to the left in the background--about 60-miles distant.

Albuquerque from JA Volcano.

The view of Black Volcano from JA.

Robyn and myself heading back down from JA volcano.