| From the 19th century history of the Lincoln County War to the ancient history of Three Rivers Petroglyph Site. No dogs are allowed on the trail. |
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| But apparently snakes are allowed. So while being concerned about the 100 degree heat and blazing sun I also had to look around every rock for a rattlesnake. I was sure to stay on the trail. |
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| The petroglyphs were up this bit of a hill. It was so hot!!! |
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| There are more than 21,000 petroglyphs in the Three Rivers Valley. They date to between 900 and 1400 C.E. and were created by the Jornada Mogollon people. |
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| The circle and dot motif is a prevalent one. In fact, it accounts for over 10% of all the petroglyphs in the area. |
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| Masks are used by many cultures in their religious ceremonies to depict supernatural beings. Jornada Mogollon style faces and masks are usually round, with almond-shaped eyes and triangular noses. |
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| Jornada rock artists often cleverly incorporated natural rock features into their work. Here, a nodule on the rock is a bighorn sheep's eye. |
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| Okay, so I have been copying text from the trail guide for these descriptions. Unfortunately this one wasn't in the guide. So, look, squiggly lines! |
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| Often animals are abstract to the point that they are not identifiable, but in Jornada-style rock are, bighorn sheep like this one are usually depicted realistically. The legs are bent as though to represent motion. |
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| Yeah, another one not in the guide. Really the vast majority of these things are not. There were only eleven of them noted. |
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| Animal tracks, especially mountain lion and bear, are common in Jornada rock art sites. These animals may have been attributed with supernatural powers. Perhaps significant, this particular track occurs with an animal apparently pierced by an arrow. |
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| Hmm, looks like a bighorn rubbing its butt up against a wall. I'm sure that's what this is, right? |
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| This is probably the best known and most photographed petroglyph at Three Rivers. The body of this bighorn sheep is filled with a Mimbres-style geometric design and is pierced by three arrows. |
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| Sometimes faces and masks are positioned on rocks in such a way that they are three dimensional. |
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| Note the typical round face and almond-shaped eyes. This figure was drawn with earrings. |
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| Maybe a picture of a lizard? |
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| An actual lizard hanging out in the shade. Pretty cool colors on this one. |
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| Quadruped images are similar to those found on Mimbres black-on-white pottery. The body is usually filled with geometric designs. |
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| Okay, what I see here, from left to right, are a small bicycle, a snake and a six-fingered hand. |
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| Funny how these are historic artifacts but similar looking stuff on walls today is graffiti. Maybe in a thousand years when our society has collapsed, spray painted subway trains will be seen as important cultural history. |
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| Did these ancient people have stairs? I guess they did on those old temples down in Mexico, but there weren't any around here to my knowledge. |
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| A guy chasing his dog with a chicken? |
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 The Sacramento Mountains to the east. |
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| On the road to the petroglyphs site is the Three Rivers School, built in 1904. If it was originally located here, I don't know how many students they would have had. There isn't much around. |
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| On the drive down to Alamogordo you will go through the town of Tularosa. Here is the St. Francis de Paula Franciscan Mission, founded 1865. |
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| Stayed at another independent motel, this one the White Sands Motel. It was so hot (the temperature hit 103) that I couldn't touch the doorknob to my room for very long for fear of burning my hand. |
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| Dinner at a local New Mexican Mexican restaurant. I think I had a combo platter, with more green chiles. |
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| Not a fancy sign, but one that does conjure up images of road trips that would have been taken many years gone by. |
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