New Mexico Trip part 4--Abo Ruins

So in case you were wondering, yes... I spent 10 days in Albuquerque, so I had plenty of time for adventure! Day trip #3 was out to the Salinas Pueblo Missions area to see the Abo Ruins. For those of you that would like a little more background... Abo, more formally known as "The Church of San Gregorio de Abo" was one of the largest Franciscan missionary operations in New Mexico. The church was built by Indian women and children who were being instructed in the Christian doctrine. While the Indian women customarily built the houses, the men did the spinning and weaving. The pueblo was built by the Tompiro Indians and was settled somewhere around 1150 AD. They made their living trading goods with other pueblos. Around the late 1670's the Spaniards and the Tompiro Indians left due to drought, famine, and Apache uprisings.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to explore the ruins. The wind was almost non-existent, the temperature was nice and it was slightly overcast. As it happened, we showed up on the perfect day at the perfect time. Ranger Murt was about to lead an off-trail hike to see the petroglyphs! Petroglyphs! You all know I'm a SUCKER for petroglyphs! My mom and I were floored though, we've both been to these ruins before and neither of us had ever been aware that there were glyphs in the area. What a treat! So I grabbed the camera and off we went! Ranger Murt was full of interesting info and the Monkey Man immediately gravitated to the front of the pack in order to hear everything. He asked good questions and participated a great deal. Ranger Murt later commented on what a treat it was to have a child that was so polite and paid attention and asked relevant questions in the group. That boy makes his Mama proud! I didn't get the luxury of hearing most of the talk as I was bringing up the rear with a whiny Piggy! Oh well, on the bright side, I had plenty of time to take pics!

One of the first things we encountered was a little pond. Nothing terribly exciting, but New Mexico terrain is just unreal. The earth is so red and the foliage is so hearty and tough.

Wild Aster, small and dainty and usually overlooked, but against the red soil it's just stunning!

We encountered all sorts of interesting stuff on the hike. We found a baby horny toad (I was mad I didn't snap a photo of it but I was too busy helping the Piggy get a good look at it), a vinegaroon exoskeleton, skunk scat,

pack rat nests (we saw three, but this one was next to a glyph!)

and let's not forget the totally rare, ever-elusive Felis catus (domestic, short-hair variety)

It was a bit of a hike through the rough but we finally made it to the glyphs and WOW! There were a lot of them and they were super cool. The thing I found most interesting is how different these glyphs are from the ones at Three Rivers in Tularosa and the ones at the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. These areas are no more than 3 hours from each other, yet the glyphs are very different in each site. So needless to say, you should make an effort to see all three! Here we have a variety of glyphs, you can probably pick out the phoenix and the mountain lion. I personally thought the mountain lion looked more like a fox, but as you will see next, it's not even close! (As always, if you'd like a closer look, click on the pic!)

Fox glyph

The kids thought this one looked like Big Bird, I called it the "Funky Chicken"!

The kids were also mesmerized by this particular glyph, they wanted to hold their hands up to it. I think it was an affirmation of those that lived long before us.

After admiring all of the beautiful glyphs, we headed off on our own to explore the mission ruins. Along the way we found a placard and the Monkey Man took time to read it to his little sister.

The next few photos are of the ruin itself from several vantage points. There was something very electric in the air while I was shooting. I find that many empty abandoned places have a sort of strange energy around them. And even if you visit that place more than once, the energy is always present, yet it's always different. That day, with the overcast skies the ruins seemed to be looming, almost brooding. It was eerie and invigorating at the same time. Very cool.



It was a really amazing day out at Abo. For those of you interested in this type of thing, there are actually 3 different ruins within the Salinas Pueblo Missions. Abo, the one I have discussed here, Quarai and Gran Quivira. From what I understand, Gran Quivira is great for bird-watching. Unfortunately, with 2 young kids, we were not able to fit all three ruins into one day, but they are fairly close to each other and if you got an early start, you could probably fit them all in. We will have to wait until our next trip to New Mexico in order to check them out. You can bet I'll post a full report when I see them!