Slide Trail Petroglyphs

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6173 - 6223 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: The Slide Trail - Lower Trailhead
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic gorge, petroglyphs

The Slide Trail is located in the Rio Grande Gorge Section of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument near Taos, New Mexico. Along the lower part of the trail there are petroglyphs that can be found on a few of the rocks and boulders.

For turn-by-turn directions enter The Slide Trail - Lower Trailhead into your driving app. There are several routes depending upon your starting point. If coming from the north you will be directed to turn off of US-64 onto the West Rim Road. From the south you will be directed up the scenic NM 570 which travels along the Rio Grande River. Both routes converge at the Taos Junction Bridge where a side route leads through the campground and day use area to the trailhead. Yet another option is to park at the upper trailhead and extend the round trip distance by several miles.

The Slide Trail gently ascends along the Rio Pueblo de Taos on an easy to follow path that is the remains of an old road.

The first boulder with petroglyphs is only about 10 feet off to the creek side of the trail about 900 feet from the trailhead.

Images can be seen on several sides of the boulder and across its top.

These are a few of the images.

There are a few more images on boulders on the opposite side of the trail but these are mostly too obscure to make anything of them.

A little further up is another boulder with some images that is on the creek side of the trail.

This little anthro figure appears to be holding a shield in his right hand while the left is raised and perhaps holding a knife. The cute part of the figure is that you can make out facial features like eyes, nose, and mouth.

Two other images that we found further up the trail above the slide appear to be of a more modern creation.

It seems that at one time the Slide Trail was a wagon or vehicle route that lead across the Rio Grande. The route was closed when a landslide brought a large amount of debris across the trail that probably wasn't deemed feasible to remove.

The petroglyphs aren't the greatest but the area is very scenic and it isn't much trouble to find them If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.