Round Trip Distance: 7.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 5898 - 6155 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 6 hrs. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Canyon Tapia 35.51276, -107.13153
Fee: none
Attractions: Pueblo ruins, petroglyphs
Cañon Tapia is located way out in the desert southeast of Cuba, New Mexico not too far from the Guadalupe Ruins. Within the canyon we have identified 12 main panels of petroglyphs and on a bench overlooking the canyon are the Tower Ruins, a partially reconstructed tower and the ruins of a larger than expected pueblo. Cañon Tapia and the Tower Ruin Site are subject to 4 seasonal, ~2 week, closures "to ensure privacy for sacred Native American traditional activities". Due to the very large number of petroglyphs this post will be segmented into 3 parts.
For turn-by-turn directions to the trailhead enter either 35.51276, -107.13153 or 'Canyon Tapia Trailhead' into your driving app. At present you will want a high clearance 4WD vehicle. Most of the 30.7 miles of road from US-550 to the trailhead are suitable for most highway vehicles. The 4WD is needed only for a couple short sand bogs. Be aware that 2 of the deep washes that the road crosses are almost completely washed out with just enough room at present to drive around the wash outs. Care must be taken not to plunge into either one of these as there are no warning signs or barriers in place.
From the trailhead the route follows an old washed out 4WD road for 1.3 miles to what was probably the original trailhead before the 4WD road became unusable.
Just beyond that there is a walk thru gate.
After passing through the gate hikers have the option of following a slightly longer routes that stays up above the wash for the next mile or so or of taking another trail that drops down into the wash. There is a cairn at the bottom that hikers will want to be sure and watch for on the return trip to know where to leave the wash.
Once down to the wash the shortest route is to take the trails that for shortcuts across most of the bends in the canyon. At the spots where you are hiking in the wash itself you will find that it is packed almost as hard as concrete. A person on a mountain bike might be able to stay in the wash all the way from the first trailhead and make pretty good time.
The first petroglyphs that we noticed were on the left side of the wash, tucked in a little cubby behind a tree, around the 2.3 mile point from the trailhead.
The tail on the image on the right looks a little long for a wild game animal. It looks more like a steer or something.
Continuing around the bend in the canyon for another 500 feet or so are the petroglyphs that we labeled P2. There are some older faint images in the middle of which are these newer 17th century Spanish style crosses. These images look like they could have been made while standing on the back of a horse.
On the right side of the panel next to an elongated horse are 2 faint figures with head feathers.
The next panel is way up high next to the top of the cliff. We labeled it P12 as we didn't notice it until on the return trip. The huge panel must have been made using ladders to reach so high as there isn't a ledge upon which to stand. This panel seems to have mostly to do with hunting. Above a large set of concentric circles there is a long line of 2 dozen game animals facing a hunter who appears to be hiding behind a crack or ridge in the cliff. There are a whole lot of other interesting images including at least 1 tomahawk and 2 round faces with bull horns, 1 large and 1 small.
From the last panel you can look up the canyon and see the Tower Ruin above on the mesa. There is a good trail a little less than 300 feet past the last panel of petroglyphs the leaves the canyon on the left and leads up to the ruins.
Sitting above the wash the tower for which the ruins get its name has a good view of the canyon and the surrounding mesas.
Out in front of the main block of rooms is a large circular one that may have been a kiva. The main block is roped off although most of that is falling down. The general idea is apparent that they want visitors to remain on the outside of the rope. Touching the south side of the main block is a large area with short walls that looks like a plaza. On the north side is a large rectangular room with large flat stones lined up on the inside of the walls as if to form seats. We wondered if this may have been a rectangular kiva. As the logs of the ruin have been cut with a saw it is apparent that the ruins have been reconstructed.
One other thing of interest is that just to the south of the main block of rooms there are 5 or 6 stone circles that reminded us of teepee rings whether that was the case or not we don't know. There are enough petroglyph images of horses in the canyon below to make teepees likely for at least part of the time of the areas habitation.
After visiting the ruins head back down into the canyon for the rest of the petroglyphs before heading back to the trailhead. (parts 2, 3)
After visiting the ruins head back down into the canyon for the rest of the petroglyphs before heading back to the trailhead. (parts 2, 3)
