Cañon Tapia - Part 1 or 3

Rating: 
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.

Cañon Tapia - Part 2 of 3

After returning to the wash from visiting the Tower Ruins cross over to the north side and begin searching along the cliffs for more petroglyphs. The panels in this post are all across from the ruins.

These are 2 of the images from the panel we labeled P4.

The next 3 panels a little further up the canyon we lumped together as P5.

The images at P6 are a little harder to make out but they look pretty interesting. They appear to have been created after the surface of the rock was already pot marked.

P7 looks like a fringed basket with legs and maybe 2 heads.

On the lower right corner of the Basket Man there are 2 upside down figures probably representing a couple of dead men. Below what might be a horse or burro there is a small figure taking aim with a bow and arrow.

What we labeled as P8 is actually another group of panels that are in close proximity of each other.

P9 is a large panel that is eaten away at the bottom. It is at a corner of the cliff where there is another panel to the right.

P9 is this diamond shaped looking basket. Note that some of these panels are up on a bench that is 20 or 30 feet above the wash. If you don't venture up onto the bench you will miss a whole lot of images.

Parts 1, 3

Cañon Tapia - Part 3 of 3

The last panel of petroglyphs in Cañon Tapia that we are making note of is on up the wash around a bend about 800 feet away. Sitting up on top of a little bench what we labeled as P11 there are actually 5 or 6 separate panels of images. There is a route on the left where a moderate scramble will get you up onto the bench. Several of the best images can't be seen from below.

The images have a lot of good detail to them. You'll notice multiple ducks and anthros of different sizes. The large anthro in this photo has duck feet.

Baskets are another image of which you will find multiple examples. Several of the baskets are balanced upon the heads of anthros that appear to be making a show of the feat.

Moccasins.

There are 2 images of what we are supposing to be depictions of Ye'ii (supernatural beings, gods, and goddesses) that are almost exactly alike.

This is one of the harder to photograph panels of intricate images.

Here some edges of the rocks have had grooves or serrations carved into them.

This image appears often enough in Cañon Tapia that it must have had a significant meaning. What the meaning was we are clueless to say.

To beat the heat as much as possible we had camped at the trailhead and began hiking before sunrise. Our wake up call was a coyote that wandered into our camp and set up a howling to let all its friends within 20 miles know about us to which they howled back their acknowledgements. The temperature was in the low 90's F upon our return but with a gentle breeze it didn't seem too bad at all.

There is actually a driving route across the southern mesa all the way to Tower Ruins but the map has a locked gate symbol so that route is apparently only open to the privileged few. More things of interest are generally found while hiking and since for the most part the hiking is relatively easy the driving route might not be so great after all.

Cañon Tapia has a lot to offer visitors that don't mind the long drive and moderate amount of hiking required. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.

(Pages 1, 2)