Road Trip: Los Alamos, New Mexico

On September 24, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips38 Comments

Los Alamos, New Mexico has had several nicknames over the years: Secret City, The Hill, Atomic City, and Site Y. The city exists because it grew up around the Los Alamos Laboratory where the world’s first atomic weapons were secretly developed. Current national security projects continue at the laboratory today. Los Alamos is also the home of one-third of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The other park units are in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. We will explain why the park spans three sites later in the post. In the meantime, enjoy your tour of the Los Alamos unit.

Where is It?

The city of Los Alamos sits in the foothills of the Jemez Mountains about 33 miles northwest of New Mexico’s capitol city of Santa Fe. The visitor center is located at 475 20th Street and is a good place to begin the self-guided walking tour of the historic sites and museums. The park is free to visit, although the Los Alamos History Museum requires an admission fee. Click here to access the park’s website.

Statues of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director, and General Leslie Groves, military director, both of whom oversaw Project Y which was the code name for the secret Los Alamos Laboratory.

The History Begins With the Los Alamos Ranch School

Ashley Pond, Jr., a Detroit, Michigan native and one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish American War, founded the Los Alamos Ranch School in 1917. Pond’s love of the outdoors, ranching, and New Mexico’s fresh air are what drove him to establish the prep school that catered mainly to the sons of wealthy east coast families.

The Ranch School’s Big House. The building which no longer exists served as the boy’s sleeping quarters where they slept on screened porches year-round. It also housed a library, study rooms, and classrooms. During the Manhattan Project, the Big House was home to several scientists who all shared one bathroom.

The government paid almost a half million dollars for the school and 50,000 acres of surrounding land. In December 1942, the school’s director received notice that the school was to be surrendered to the government as a matter of utmost importance in the prosecution of the war.

The Alamos Ranch School closed after its last graduation in January 1943, and the military moved in. Nine months later, a secret laboratory had been built and work was underway for the development of atomic weapons. Along with it a secret city was quickly springing up for the project’s workers and their families. Meanwhile, Hanford, Washington and Oak Ridge, Tennessee were also becoming top secret worksites for other phases of the Manhattan Project.

Fuller Lodge was originally the headquarters, staff quarters and mess hall for the Ranch School. It then served as a dining hall, community center, and guest quarters for visiting scientists during the Manhattan Project. The lodge is still a community center today.

Historic Sites

Our walking tour began at the park’s visitor center. The delightful lady working in the office gave us information about the historical sites and also told us about the filming sites of the (then) upcoming movie Oppenheimer. Click here to view a YouTube movie trailer.

We then walked down the street called Bathtub Row. The homes on Bathtub Row were originally built to house the Ranch School’s faculty. With Project Y’s new homes and dormitories – hastily built for the purpose of merely lasting until the end of the war – only having showers, the community began referring to the street where some of the top officials and scientists lived as Bathtub Row. You guessed it, they had the only bathtubs in town, and the name stuck.

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his family lived in this home.

This cottage, also built for the Ranch School, was home to Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Edwin McMillan during the Manhattan Project. Hans Bethe (pronounced Beta), a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who specialized in nuclear reactions, lived there in 1945-1946. The house is now home to the Los Alamos History Museum’s Harold Agnew Cold War Gallery. By the way, Harold Agnew was also a Manhattan Project physicist, Nobel Prize winner, and director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1970-1979.

Trivia: Eighteen of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos under the direction of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer were Nobel Prize winners. Oppenheimer was a Nobel nominee on three different occasions, however, he never won.

Guest Cottage. — The guest cottage, built 1918, once served as the Ranch School’s infirmary and guest quarters for visiting parents of the students. Today it is the main building of the Los Alamos History Museum, a can’t-miss stop when visiting the park.

Massive Efforts

As part of our walking tour, we visited the Los Alamos History Museum and the Bradbury Science Museum where we learned a lot about the history of Los Alamos and the incredible efforts that went into the Manhattan Project. Below are some historic photos that are relevant to the testing of the first atomic weapon.

The Trinity device, codenamed *The* *Gadget*, was detonated at the Trinity Site near the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The blast resulted in the world’s first nuclear explosion.

Manhattan Project chemist and explosives expert Donald Hornig sits atop the 100-foot Trinity test tower with the Gadget.

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves with a few scraps of metal – all that was left of the tower after the Trinity test.

undefined — The photo above is the only color image captured at the Trinity site. Department of Energy photo via Wikipedia.

It’s hard to believe that less than a month after the Trinity test, a uranium bomb called Little Boy exploded over Hiroshima, Japan. Fat Man, a bomb fueled by plutonium exploded over the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. The bombings, while unimaginably devastating, effectively brought an end to World War II.

Trivia: The fireball created by the Trinity test carried up sand that melted in the mushroom cloud. The melted sand then dropped back to earth where it solidified into a new manmade mineral. Scientists dubbed the new mineral trinitite.

Three Sites, One Goal

Oak Ridge, Tennessee was home to another secret city that was built for the purpose of enriching uranium to fuel nuclear weapons and also to produce small amounts of plutonium. Interestingly, most of its 50,000 workers did not know they were working on components of the first atomic weapons. Today Oak Ridge is still home to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest laboratory in the US.

Oak Ridge, TN - Manhattan Project National Historical Park ... — Oak Ridge site. National Park Service/Department of Energy Photo.

Another large industrial complex was built in Hanford, Washington for the purpose of producing plutonium. According to the National Park Service, the complex had huge production-scale reactors, chemical separations plants, and fuel fabrication facilities. The Hanford site employed approximately 51,000 workers.

Aerial photo of a housing community on a flat desert with mountains in the background. — Hanford, Washington site. Department of Energy Photo.

Air transportation was too risky for the transport of plutonium and uranium. Therefore, the elements produced by the Oak Ridge and Hanford laboratories were delivered to Los Alamos by inconspicuous, unguarded “traveling salesmen” who hand carried special luggage via the railroad.

The wartime Project Y – Los Alamos Laboratory. Originally designed for about 150 scientists, engineers and others, the laboratory employed more than 2,500 people by the end of the war. At the time, it was the largest laboratory in the world. A new campus was built across town in the 1950s and is home to the national laboratory’s current location.

Trivia: At its height of employment in 1944, approximately 129,000 people worked on the secretive Manhattan Project, and of those 84,500 were construction workers.

More History Around Town

The laboratory was built around the existing Ashley Pond, named after the founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School.

Today Ashley Pond is the centerpiece of a beautiful city park.

Today this replica of the Main Gate is a feature of Main Gate Park at the top of the hill on the east side of the city.

Built in 1948 at the site of a checkpoint, the guard tower stands across the street from Main Gate Park as a chilling reminder of the secrecy of Los Alamos. Today there are still checkpoints where visitors must show an ID and state their business on the main road through the national laboratory’s campus.

Performing Arts Center/Los Alamos Little Theater. During the Manhattan Project, this building was the laboratory’s east cafeteria which reportedly had the *best food in town*.

The Manhattan Project was successful due to a massive effort that spanned just 27 months from start to finish and included thousands of military and civilian laborers who worked toward a common goal although they were located in three separate sites across the country.

Thank you so much for joining us on our historical tour of Los Alamos! For more national park inspiration, check out these great sites:

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park

Happy, safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.

Road Trip: Chaco Canyon

On September 5, 2023September 5, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips, UNESCO World Heritage Site74 Comments

Chaco Canyon was a busy place 1,000 years ago. Early great houses (large public buildings) began being built around 800 AD, and construction continued for about 300 years. Today the ruins of the Chacoan great houses stand as a testament to their builders’ culture, brilliant architectural and astrological knowledge, and remarkable ability to thrive in the harsh conditions of the desert southwest. Enjoy your visit.

Where is it?

Chaco Canyon lies in the Four Corners region of the US in northwestern New Mexico. (Four Corners is where the corners of the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet.) A town called Nageezi is the closest map dot to the park, but it doesn’t offer much more than a turn off for the road to the canyon, which involves another 24-mile trek, and part of the road is very bumpy gravel. But getting there is half the fun, right?

Besides being a national park unit, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a designated International Dark Sky Park. Features of the park include:

Visitor center, museum, park film
Bookstore/gift shop
Nine-mile-long Canyon Loop Drive – open to motor vehicles and bicycles.
Three additional bike trails.
Four backcountry trails – permit required.
Gallo Campground, featuring 32 individual and two group sites which can be reserved through www.recreation.gov. RV, tent, and car camping is available with some restrictions and no hook ups.
Periodic night sky events, and the park also features an observatory.
Periodic ranger led tours or talks.
Seasonal hours apply.
Admission fee applies.

Access the park’s website here.

Many Roads Led to Chaco Canyon

Chaco Canyon was a regional center for trade, and an elaborate road system covering hundreds of miles connected the area’s great houses. The map below shows the great houses and the roads. Chaco Culture National Historical Park, formerly Chaco Canyon National Monument, protects the 16 great houses in and around the canyon. The park’s great houses are the best preserved prehistoric architectural structures in North America. Additionally, archaeological and anthropological studies of the site have resulted in the discovery of over 1.5 million artifacts, most of which are in the care of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

The new Chaco Canyon Visitor Center and museum opened in 2017 after years of planning and construction. Artifacts from the park’s collection as well as some borrowed from other museums were to be displayed in the park’s museum. Unfortunately, the heating and air conditioning system does not provide the proper climate controls needed to preserve the artifacts. Now, several years later with no resolution to the climate control issues in sight, empty display cases line the walls of the museum.

Some of the display cases feature reproduction pottery such as the jar shown above.

Despite the fact that the museum didn’t have original artifacts, it did provide us with a lot of interesting information about the canyon, its inhabitants, and the great houses.

The Great Houses

Builders of the great houses quarried stone and carried timber from many miles away. They also constructed dams, waterways, and stairways. Chaco Canyon’s great houses are sacred to many Native American tribes.

Hungo Pavi was occupied from AD 1000 – 1250s and remains unexcavated.

Chetro Ketl is the second largest great house in Chaco Canyon and was occupied from AD 950 – 1250s. With 400 rooms, it covers 5.5 acres (2.3 hectares) which actually makes it the largest in terms of surface area.

Chetro Ketl practically blends into its surroundings.

Petroglyphs on the mesa wall between Chetro Ketl and its closest neighbor Pueblo Bonito.

Pueblo Del Arroyo was occupied from AD 1075 – 1250s. Unlike other Chacoan great houses, Pueblo Del Arroyo does not have a great kiva (communal meeting place or possible ritual site). Perhaps its people shared Pueblo Bonito’s great kivas, as the two great houses sit just a few hundred yards apart.

Archaeologists who excavated Pueblo Del Arroyo in the mid 1920s uncovered only about half of the great house.

Pueblo Bonito

The largest of all great houses, was occupied from AD 850 – 1250s and was the first Chacoan great house to be excavated.

Archaeologists believe that Pueblo Bonito was the convergence point of the roads leading to Chaco Canyon. The four story, D-shaped structure featured about 800 rooms, 32 kivas, and four great kivas. Its number of occupants remains debatable due to the lack of trash piles and burial sites. Some theorize that the huge great house was used primarily as a ritual site, thus the four great kivas.

In 1941, 30,000 tons of rock slid off of the mesa’s face and destroyed about 30 of the pueblo’s rooms. The Chacoan builders of the great house knew a rockslide was possible and had built supporting masonry walls just in case. Remarkably, Threatening Rock as it was called, held stable for centuries before it finally gave way.

It is hard to tell how big the pueblo is from ground level.

For size and scale purposes, the aerial photo below shows the great house and the rockslide debris. Credit for the photo goes to Bob Adams of Albuquerque, New Mexico via Wikipedia.

More Canyon Highlights

Casa Rinconada Community was occupied from AD 1075 – 1250s and is considered a village rather than a great house. The village features the largest great kiva in the canyon.

From wayside information: Unlike the monumental Chacoan great houses, the villages along this trail are more modest. Yet both the great houses and the villages were built and occupied during the same period. Hundreds of these small villages and communities have been discovered clustered around Chacoan great houses. The role of the great houses isn’t clear. Perhaps they served a central purpose: ceremonial, economic, and administrative, and the small village communities supported those efforts.

Una Vida is another of Chaco Canyon’s great houses and was occupied from AD 850 – 1250s. Basically untouched, Una Vida has had little excavation.

According to archaeologists, Una Vida was two to three stories tall and had 100 ground floor rooms and kivas. Additional rooms surrounded the plaza. Interestingly, a jewelry workshop was found at Una Vida along with pottery from Mesa Verde which is now Mesa Verde National Park.

Desert sand and vegetation preserve most of Una Vida and its great kiva, so it looks much like it did when it was discovered in 1849. Una Vida is reached via a 1-mile out and back trail that starts at the visitor center.

Wetherill Cemetery

A lonely patch of sandy scrubland is the final resting place of Richard Wetherill, his wife, Marietta, and several others.

Richard Wetherill was a Colorado rancher, but he had a passion for ancient puebloan culture and was an amateur archaeologist. He is credited with coining the word Anasazi to describe the ancient ones who occupied the ancestral pueblo dwellings of the southwestern US and is also credited with rediscovering and excavating some of the dwellings at what is now Mesa Verde National Park.

Wetherill established a homestead in Chaco Canyon where he assisted in excavating Pueblo Bonito under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. He ran a trading post in the canyon until his death. Click here to learn more about Mr. Wetherill and his mysterious murder.

Fajada Butte

Rising approximately 440 feet (135 meters) from the canyon floor, Fajada Butte is the predominant natural landmark in Chaco Canyon. It is also sacred to the Navajo, Hopi, and Pueblo peoples, and it is home to the most significant petroglyph in the canyon: the Sun Dagger.

According to the park: Atop Fajada Butte Chacoan skywatchers commemorated the movement of the sun and the seasons. Sunlight passed between three boulder slabs onto a spiral petroglyph to mark the sun’s position on summer solstice, winter solstice, and the equinoxes.

In recent years, scientists have noticed a change in the light pattern on the spiral due to slipping of the boulder slabs. They suspect that the slipping could be from human-caused erosion to the base of the rocks, and as a result access to Fajada Butte is prohibited.

See a photo of the Sun Dagger here.

Wildflowers

We were fortunate to visit Chaco Canyon when many wildflowers were blooming. We hope that we have identified them correctly. Click on any image in the gallery below to view as a slideshow.

Thank you so much for joining us on our Chaco Canyon road trip! We appreciate you more than we can express. We’re closing the post with one of the friends we made on our visit to the park.

Want to see more in New Mexico? Check out these great destinations:

New Mexico’s Salinas Pueblo Missions

Pecos National Historical Park

Albuquerque to Taos Road Trip: Things to Do

Safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our opinions are our own.

What is a Harvey House?

On August 11, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips76 Comments

Harvey Houses, which were hotels and restaurants, served train travelers and locals for years along the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) Railroad lines across the United States. Founder Fred Harvey came up with the idea while providing food service in railroad dining cars.

Our first Harvey House experience was the fabulous El Tovar Hotel at Grand Canyon National Park. A second Harvey House at the Grand Canyon is Bright Angel Lodge. Another one closer to home is located about 15 miles away from us in Slaton, Texas and is now a bed and breakfast. Though with that said, we are dedicating this post to the Belen Harvey House Museum in Belen, New Mexico. We would also like to recognize Heide, our lovely guide who taught us so much about Harvey House history.

Historic photo of the Belen Harvey House, built in 1910.

Where is it?

The Belen Harvey House Museum is located at 104 North 1st Street in Belen, New Mexico. Belen, which is the Spanish name for Bethlehem, is 34 miles south of Albuquerque on I-25. Access the museum’s website here.

Belen Harvey House Museum today, though this is a side view from the parking lot. The front of the building faces the train tracks located on the right.

Fred Harvey

Having immigrated from England in 1853 at the age of 17, Fred Harvey got a job as a dishwasher in a New York City restaurant. The restaurant’s owners taught him the complexities of the food service business, and he eventually became a busboy, waiter, and then a cook. Later, after working for a few years in a jewelry store, Fred and a partner opened their own restaurant, but the Civil War interrupted the venture. When the partner absconded with all of the profits, Fred was left holding the bag. Harvey eventually went to work for the Hanibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri. After several promotions within the company, he was transferred to Leavenworth, Kansas where he remained for the rest of his life.

In 1876, Fred made a deal with the superintendent of the ATSF Railroad after noticing there were few accommodations and no restaurants near most of their depots. The railroad would buy or build the buildings and lease them to the Fred Harvey Company. In turn, he would provide restaurants, workers, and hotel accommodations in or near the depots. A simple handshake sealed the deal, and the first Harvey House opened in Florence, Kansas in 1878 ushering in an era that would span almost 90 years. Fred Harvey died of intestinal cancer in 1901. After his death, his children and grandchildren ran the company into the 1960s. Harvey’s home in Leavenworth is now a museum.

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter

Full length photo of Mary Colter sitting in an elaborate wicker chair that wraps around her. — Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter (National Park Service photo)

Fred Harvey hired Mary Colter, an architect and designer who designed many of the buildings at Grand Canyon National Park, to design his restaurants and hotels across the southwest. She remained the Fred Harvey Company’s chief architect and designer for 46 years, retiring in 1948 at the age of 79. Colter designed 21 hotels in addition to other buildings for the Fred Harvey Company, however, the Belen Harvey House was designed architect Myron Church.

Desert View Watchtower, Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park was the railroad’s most popular destination, so Colter was hired to design several buildings for the park. She designed the Desert View Watchtower, Hermit’s Rest, Phantom Ranch, and Lookout Studio, among others, all of which are still in use today. Mary Colter also designed the dinnerware that was used exclusively in the dining cars on the ATSF Super Chief, which ran from Chicago, Illinois to Pasadena, California.

Colter’s love of the southwest shines through in the designs and colors of this dinnerware on display at the Belen Harvey House Museum.

Harvey Girls

Women aged 18 – 30 were hired to serve as waitresses in Harvey Houses and to bring hospitality, beauty, and refinement to those establishments. Upon being hired, all Harvey Girls were sent to a one-month training program at the Vaughn, New Mexico Harvey House which no longer exists. Paid $17.50 per month plus tips, they worked 12-hour shifts six days a week. Uniforms plus room and board were perks of their employment. Free train travel along with Harvey House accommodations and meals during their one week per year vacations was another perk.

Recognizable by their black dresses and white aprons, these hard-working ladies lived in a dormitory in or near the hotel and even had a dorm mother. House rules were fairly strict. Men were never allowed to visit the girls’ living quarters, and the girls were strongly advised against fraternizing with the male railroad workers.

Example of a dorm room in the Belen Harvey House.

Nor could Harvey Girls converse with or flirt with the patrons. Their employment contracts purportedly contained an agreement stating that they would remain unmarried for at least one year after being hired. However, according to museum information, between 1883 and 1905 there were 8,260 marriages of Harvey Girls to railroad men, ranchers, cowboys, and fellow employees. Throughout the Harvey House era approximately 100,000 women worked as Harvey Girls.

Nothing But the Best But No Bathrooms

Insisting on nothing but the finest, Fred Harvey imported his table linens, dinnerware, and silverware from Europe. Although, interestingly, most of the Harvey Houses didn’t have public bathrooms. This was to prevent a passenger from missing or delaying a train.

Home | Belén Harvey House Museum — Belen Harvey House lunch counter and shiny coffee pots.

Travelers had limited time in which to have a meal before reboarding the train – usually about 25 minutes – because it took about a half hour to refuel the trains. Harvey House lunch counters were casual and were great for a quick sandwich, piece of pie, or cup of coffee.

Dining rooms, on the other hand, were formal. Because time was so limited, an ingenious system was developed to ensure that travelers had time to enjoy their meals. The 1955 menu below is from the La Fonda in Santa Fe. We have eaten there, and though it’s no longer a Harvey House they were still serving fabulous food at the time of our visit. We’re including the menu to show the delicious-sounding meals of the time.

Just look at those prices! Hot pineapple fritter with brandy sauce anyone? We had to laugh at the Postum and Sanka. Do they even make those anymore?

The Harvey House Legacy Lives On

At their peak, there were 84 Harvey Houses. The Grand Canyon’s El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge are former Harvey Houses that are still in operation. La Posada opened in 1930 in Winslow, Arizona as Mary Colter’s self-proclaimed masterpiece. It is the only Harvey railroad hotel left in operation on Historic Route 66. In 2014, La Posada’s owner, Allen Allfeldt, bought the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which was Harvey’s first trackside hotel. After some rehabilitation, the Castaneda Hotel has reopened for overnight stays and dining.

Former Harvey House, Castaneda Hotel, in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Castaneda Hotel’s beautiful dining room.

The Castaneda Hotel was built in 1898 and sits adjacent to the Las Vegas railroad depot which still serves Amtrak.

Visiting the Belen Harvey House Museum

Hours: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Wednesday through Saturday.
Admission is free but donations are greatly appreciated.
Last admission to the museum is at 4:00 pm.
Grab a bite to eat in the new Whistle Stop Cafe.
Buy a souvenir in the gift shop.
Watch the trains rumble by on the adjacent tracks.
Tell Heide we said hello!

A glimpse of the front of the Belen Harvey House Museum.

Thanks so much for joining us on our visit to the Belen Harvey House Museum. If you enjoy history and museums, you may enjoy these other wonderful destinations:

Happy, safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our opinions are our own.

Road Trip: Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano

On July 19, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips70 Comments

Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano are located on the North American Continental Divide, but the site is not part of a national or state park. The site has been owned and operated as a tourist attraction by the David Candelaria family for almost 80 years. Join us as we explore this enchanting land of fire and ice.

Where is it?

Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano are located approximately 26 miles south of Grants, New Mexico off of Highway 53. The physical address is 12000 Ice Caves Road, Grants, New Mexico.

Features of the site include:

Trading Post with gift shop, snacks, drinks, and historical artifacts
Picnic area
Tent camping area – fee required
Overnight RV parking allowed with no services – fee required
Hiking trails to the ice cave and the volcano
Site is open from March through October
Admission fee required

Access the website here.

Ice Caves Trading Post, originally built in the 1930s along with a dance hall and saloon.

Visiting Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano

Ice Caves Trading Post, located next to the parking lot, is the first stop in order to pay admission fees and borrow a trail guide. While there, visitors can view historic photos as well as some of the ancient artifacts that have been found on the site. The trading post also sells wonderful pottery, rugs, and jewelry crafted by local tribal members.

Pottery and implements – proof that Native American people occupied the area hundreds of years ago.

Pottery, stone implements, and animal bones. Some of the artifacts on display date back 800 to 1,200 years.

When exiting the trading post, a right-hand turn will take visitors to the trail to the ice cave, and a left will take them to the trail to the volcano. Excited about a hike we hit the level trail, which is roughly a half mile out and back, to see our first ice cave.

Ice Cave Trail

Ice Cave Trail features the ruins of an ancient pueblo where artifacts like the ones shown above were found. Visitors will also be able to see parts of the Bandera lava tube. Lava tubes form where the surface lava hardens but molten lava still continues to flow underneath. The Bandera lava tube is 17.5 miles long, and some believe it is the longest one in North America. Much of the tube has now collapsed, but a few caves remain. Ice Cave is one of them.

Amid a lot of lava, visitors to Ice Cave will see beautiful mosses and lichens. The alpine moss that grows near the cave’s entrance is an unusual find so far south.

Green alpine moss and orange lichens adorn the lava near the cave’s entrance.

A stairway with 72 steps leads down to a small viewing platform at the cave’s entrance. Visitors cannot enter the cave which keeps a temperature that never rises above 31 degrees (F). As water seeps into the cave the floor of ice thickens, though thickening depends on rain and snowfall. Ice has been forming in the cave for at least 3,400 years.

Incredibly, the ice does not seem to be affected by climate change and is estimated to be 18-20 feet thick today. A type of algae causes the green tint.

Icicles on the cave wall appear to drip on to the icy floor.

Everyone from ancient Indians to the saloon owner, Mr. Mirabal, who was David Candelaria’s father-in-law, harvested ice from the cave. Fortunately, ice harvesting ceased in 1946 when Candelaria turned the site into a tourist attraction.

This shot shows the incredible natural colors of the rock inside the cave.

Bandera Volcano Trail

After returning from the ice cave, we took off from the trading post to hike to the crater of the volcano. The one mile out and back trail was fairly easy with a 150-200-foot elevation gain and gorgeous views.

Ever heard of a tree hole? We hadn’t until we came across one on this trail. A tree hole is formed when molten lava surrounds a tree, then the tree burns due to the extreme heat of the lava. When the lava eventually cools, a hole is left where the tree once stood.

Bandera, which is a cinder cone, is the largest of 29 volcanoes in the west central area of New Mexico, usually known as the Zuni-Bandera volcanic field but also sometimes known as the Malpais (Mal-pie-EEs) volcanic field. Neighboring volcanoes have interesting names, such as Rendija (Crack), Lost Woman, Americana, and Comadre (Godmother), just to name a few. Bandera means flag in Spanish.

Layered views of some other volcanoes in the Zuni-Bandera volcanic field of west central New Mexico.

Bandera erupted about 10,000 years ago, creating a 23-mile-long lava flow. The eruption blew out the side of Bandera resulting in a crater that is approximately 1,400 wide and 800 feet deep.

Erosion from above is causing rock and cinders to fill the bottom of the crater. In an effort to keep this from happening faster than it should, visitors cannot venture past the viewing platform which sits about 130 feet below the rim. Bandera Volcano’s elevation is 8,367 feet at the rim.

From the trail: Volcanic landscape with a lotta lava in the right foreground.

A great interactive map showing the area’s volcanoes can be found here.

Final Thoughts

We highly recommend a stop at Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano for those traveling in New Mexico. The site is located about half-way between two national monuments, El Malpais and El Morro, and is an easy drive from I-40. Combining all three sites makes for a perfect one or two-day road trip with accommodations in the cities of Grants or Gallup.

Thank you so much for coming along on our fire and ice adventure! Our parting shot is from Bandera Volcano Trail and is a peek through the trees at a couple of the other neighboring volcanoes.

Looking for more road trip inspiration? Try these great destinations:

Happy, safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our written content and photos are copyrighted and may not be published without our permission.

Road Trip: El Malpais National Monument

On July 7, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn National Monuments52 Comments

El Malpais (pronounced El Mal-pie-EEs) National Monument will leave visitors in awe of its varied landscapes and geological wonders. Lying a few miles west of Mount Taylor, an 11,301-foot stratovolcano, El Malpais features its own lava flows, tubes, and caves, as well as cinder cones, sandstone bluffs, and other volcanoes. We hope you enjoy the journey as we visit some highlights of this intriguing park.

Where is it?

El Malpais National Monument is located south of Grants, New Mexico, just off of I-40. The physical address is 1900 East Santa Fe Avenue, Grants, New Mexico.

Park features include:

Visitor Center with bookstore, museum exhibits, and covered picnic area
Hiking trails, including a portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
Scenic Drives via Highway 53 and Highway 117
Lava tube caving by permit
Backcountry camping by permit
Ranger programs, including bat flights during June and July
Ranger guided hikes
Periodic Cultural/Craft/Demonstration Events
Free Admission

Access the park’s website here.

View of Mount Taylor which is sacred to the Native American people who live in the area.

El Malpais Via Highway 117

The national monument abuts the El Malpais National Conservation Area which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Features of the conservation area include a campground, picnic areas, a natural arch, and several trailheads. However, we chose a short hike along the Sandstone Bluffs area of the national monument because a helpful park ranger told us the scenery was spectacular.

A gravel road took us the last couple of miles to the Sandstone Bluffs parking lot, and the bumpiness was well worth the trek. The ranger was right, the scenery was spectacular! We spent an hour walking along the bluffs and admiring the scenery.

Sandstone Bluffs with Mount Taylor in the background.

A view of some of El Malpais’ lava flows.

Not-so-bad badlands with lava and mountains.

Lava flows at El Malpais date from 115,000 years ago to 3,900 years ago. At least 200 known vents from which the lava flowed created the cinder cones and shield volcanoes in the park. Interestingly, before this area became a national monument it was used by the military as a test bombing range.

La Ventana Arch

This amazing natural sandstone arch is located in the El Malpais National Conservation Area but is close to Sandstone Bluffs on Highway 117. It is one of the largest arches in New Mexico, and the surrounding scenery is as breathtaking as it is historic. La Ventana Arch spans 120 feet, and its top is 25 feet thick.

According to park information, the area surrounding El Malpais once resembled the Sahara Desert. About 160 million years ago, the cliffs and bluffs we see today were sand dunes, now called Zuni Sandstone.

Then, about 96 million years ago, the Western Interior Seaway made its way into what is now New Mexico and deposited the top layer, now called Dakota Sandstone. The two geological eras are divided by the white layer near the top of the cliffs as seen in the photo above. It is also interesting how the colors of the two sandstone layers differ.

La Ventana Arch and its surrounds. La Ventana means *the window* in Spanish.

A quarter-mile hike on an easy trail from the parking lot gives visitors an up-close view of the arch. Not only is La Ventana magnificent, but the colors of the surrounding rocky cliffs make for an awe-inspiring experience. Additionally, the area features a perfect place for a picnic with covered tables among the trees near the parking lot.

El Malpais Via Highway 53

Highway 53 takes visitors along the western side of the park which also abuts the El Malpais National Conservation Area. Hiking trails, the El Calderon Volcano, and lava tubes are accessible from this road. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to hike El Calderon because we chose to visit another volcano that will be featured in separate post.

The scenery along Highway 53 got prettier the farther we drove, but it wasn’t as pretty as the scenery along Highway 117. For those who plan to visit El Malpais, note that it took us 35 minutes to backtrack from La Ventana Arch to the visitor center. Highway 53 also leads to El Morro National Monument, which is approximately 43 miles southwest of the El Malpais Visitor Center.

Fire and Ice Native American Art and Dance Gathering

One of the best things about our visit was that the park was hosting the Fire and Ice Native American Art and Dance Gathering on the day we were there. We didn’t know about the event until we arrived at the visitor center, but it was exciting to meet the artists and purchase some of their offerings.

We were also able to see a traditional dance, which was fascinating. Native American dance was something neither of us had even seen before, and the troupe was made up of dancers from various pueblos in the area.

Thank you so much for visiting El Malpais National Monument with us! We are closing the post with one more view of the fabulous La Ventana Arch.

Looking for more national park inspiration? Try these great parks:

Happy, safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

Road Trip: Canyon de Chelly

On June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips, National Monuments73 Comments

We’re not sure there are enough pretty words in the English language to describe Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Canyon d’Shay). However, stunning, beautiful, and breathtaking immediately come to mind. As a national monument and also part of the Navajo Nation, its history is just as inspiring as its beauty. Enjoy the journey.

Where is it?

Canyon de Chelly is near Chinle, Arizona, which is located in the northeastern corner of the state.

Admission to the national monument is free.
Tours of the canyon floor require fees and are not booked through the park. Click here for a list of approved tour operators.
Call the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department at 928-674-2106 for campground and backcountry camping information.

Access the national monument’s website here.

Rain, Rain Go Away

We arrived at Canyon de Chelly with a reservation at the Thunderbird Lodge, a tour that had been booked through said lodge, and an 82% chance of rain. If it rained, we weren’t sure the tour would go on. It was too early to check in to our room, so we made ourselves a picnic lunch and ate on the patio in front of the office under darkening skies.

As luck would have it, it started raining about five minutes before our tour was to depart. Our guide, Fernando, insisted that the tour was a go, so we boarded an interesting open top vehicle for what was sure to be a rain-soaked adventure.

Fernando and the truck. Thunderbird Lodge guides conduct their tours in Pinzgauer troop transport vehicles that were built in Austria in the 1970s.

Fortunately, the heavens smiled down on us, and the rain stopped as soon as we grabbed our complimentary bottled water and snack from the office. Off we went, along with five other people, into a (normally) dry wash that had turned into a river along the canyon floor.

Thankfully the water wasn’t deep, but Fernando said in 40 years of living and working in the canyon he hadn’t seen so much water in the wash. Not knowing the difference, we thought the watery wash just added to the adventure.

Canyon de Chelly – The Floor

Access to the canyon floor is only permitted with a Navajo guide or a park ranger. (There is one self-guided trail that leads to a small portion of the canyon floor, but it was closed when we were there.) Besides Thunderbird Lodge, which we highly recommend, there are several other tour companies with various tour packages. Ours was a four-hour tour and we thought it was perfect for viewing the spectacular scenery and learning the canyon’s history.

This shot shows a great example of *desert varnish*: the drippy striations on the canyon walls where minerals have leached out and stained the rock.

Canyon de Chelly is still occupied by Navajo families who have farmed and raised livestock there for generations, though today most of them only live in the canyon seasonally.

Mostly made up of De Chelly sandstone, the canyon walls vary in height from 30 feet to 1,000 feet. All of them are spectacular.

Things Best Seen from the Canyon Floor

The National Park Service maintains a scenic drive with overlooks along the rim of the canyon. However, here is what visitors will miss by not touring the floor: closer looks at Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings! Our tour took us to seven ruins, and each one was mind boggling, especially because some of them are located so high above the canyon floor. We’ve highlighted a few of them below.

There are approximately 2,500 ancient dwellings in Canyon de Chelly and adjoining Canyon de Muerto. Built between 1500 BC and 1350 AD, the dwellings have survived because they’re under overhangs or in cave-like formations in the rock.

Junction Ruin, so named because it is near the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Canyon de Muerto.

Ledge Ruin because it’s on a ledge, and that ledge is in a natural amphitheater.

Antelope House was built on the ground and was once covered in white plaster.

We saved our favorite, White House Ruin, for last. Building began at this site around 1050 AD. Over the next two centuries, more rooms were added resulting in 80 rooms and four kivas at its height. White House was originally covered in white plaster.

Ancient Rock Art

Canyon de Chelly’s amazing rock art cannot be seen from the rims. Yet another reason a tour of the canyon floor should be included on every itinerary. Below are a few of the many pictographs and petroglyphs that we saw on our tour.

Pictographs (painted on the rock)

Antelope or deer, people – perhaps a family, and a hill or rainbow.

Cow, antelope, horses, flowing water, and perhaps an astrological symbol.

This spectacular pictograph panel depicts the arrival of Spanish explorers, including a priest.

Petroglyphs (chiseled into the rock)

This probably depicts a deer hunt on horseback.

Horses, maybe and and a figure eight which possibly has an astrological meaning.

Possible depictions of snakes and other unknown images.

Canyon de Chelly – The Rim

There are three overlooks along North Rim Drive and six overlooks along South Rim Drive. Allow a few hours to enjoy all of the overlooks when visiting the park.

Recent rains filled the wash and enhanced the “green”.

Views from the top are just as stunning as they are from the floor.

Spider Rock (center) is probably the most recognizable feature of Canyon de Chelly and rises 1,000 feet from the canyon floor.

Tragic Navajo History

Our post would not be complete without mentioning the 1863 – 1864 attacks led by Col. Kit Carson on the Navajo people who lived in and around Canyon de Chelly. In an effort to open up the western part of the country for settlement, the government decided the way to control Native Americans was to move them to encampments.

Traditional Navajo hogan (dwelling – pronounced hoe-gone) in Canyon de Chelly.

However, the Navajo, after hearing about the raid, fled to the top of a butte called Fortress Rock.

Fortress Rock – a sacred place for today’s Navajo people.

The people watched from atop Fortress Rock while Carson and his men destroyed their homes and orchards, killed their sheep, and stole their horses. Once captured, the Navajo were deemed prisoners of war and forced to walk 300 miles to Fort Sumner, New Mexico – a journey that is now known as the Long Walk.

This shot shows a ladder (the two wooden poles on the right) used by the Navajo people who fled to the top of Fortress Rock.

Many Navajo people died during the Long Walk. Those who survived the trek were confined in a prison camp called Bosque Redondo. Living conditions at Bosque Redondo were horrific, and many people died of disease and malnourishment while imprisoned there. The hardships continued for four long years until a treaty was signed. Finally, the people were allowed to return to their homelands.

Thank you so much for joining us on our tour of Canyon de Chelly! Our closing shot is of a rainstorm at sunset.

For more national monument inspiration, check out these other great destinations:

Safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

Road Trip: New Mexico Through the Windshield

On June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips78 Comments

Oh, how we love to visit New Mexico. It truly is The Land of Enchantment! We are enchanted by all of New Mexico, but we are particularly fond of the northern half of the state with its gorgeous mountains, breathtaking landscapes, and intriguing Native American culture.

Adding to the enchantment, New Mexico has 15 national park units, three national historic trails, and seven national scenic byways! Since it’s impossible to stop for photos at every turn we decided to share a glimpse of what we’ve seen through the windshield on our road trips through the state. Please accept our apologies for the occasional blurs, bugs, and other imperfections. Enjoy the ride.

Northwest: The Four Corners Area

Mountains and wildflowers on US 160 near Four Corners Monument in the far northwest corner of the state.

Four Corners Monument is a Navajo park where the corners of the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meet. Apart from our home state of Texas, those happen to be our four favorite states.

Here we are in all four states at once (kind of). Though not taken through the windshield, obviously, we had to stand in line to get our turn, and the people behind us were kind enough to take our picture.

Shiprock is located on Navajo land about 15 miles southwest of the town of Shiprock. It is a 1,583-foot volcanic plug that is sacred to the Navajo people who believe the rock looks like a bird. According to legend, a big bird carried their ancestors to the top of the rock in order for them to settle in the area. The name Shiprock was coined by explorers in the 1800s who thought it looked like a ship.

Gorgeous Navajo landscape as seen from the highway near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

North Central: Closest to Santa Fe

Highway 96 near Abiquiu Lake northwest of the town of Abiquiu (Abba-cue).

Near Los Alamos – Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway (click for website).

Another gorgeous Jemez Mountains view. (It’s not a video – that’s a road sign.)

On the **Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway** (click for website) near the small town of Cerillos.

From Highway 14 – Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe.

West Central: Closest to Albuquerque

Highway 117 about 20 miles south of I-40 near Grants

Highway 53 between El Morrow National Monument and Ramah

On Highway 55 north of Mountainair, New Mexico

East Central: The Middle of Nowhere

Desolation. Highway 60 between Clovis and Fort Sumner.

South Central: Closest to Roswell

Featured photo. Sacramento Mountains off of Highway 54.

Southwestern: Closest to Las Cruces

The following views were from I-10 between Las Cruces and Lordsburg.

Are you enchanted yet?

Thank you so much for joining us on our journey! We hope that we’ve given you a glimpse into the beautiful and diverse landscapes of New Mexico through our windshield. Our closing shot is from the north central area of the state.

If you’re looking for additional road trip inspiration, try these ideas:

Safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) Our opinions are our own.

Fort Craig, New Mexico

On April 3, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips, National Historic Site47 Comments

Where is Fort Craig?

Fort Craig sits near the Rio Grande River about 35 miles south of Socorro, New Mexico.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees this historic site, so it is not a national park. Click here for the BLM website.

The site features:

Visitor center
Restrooms
Sheltered picnic tables
Self-guided tour on accessible pathways
Free admission

Why is Fort Craig significant?

Fort Craig was built on the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, which means Royal Road of the Interior Land. Following the Rio Grande River, the National Historic Trail runs roughly 400 miles from El Paso, Texas to Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico. However, the original trail began in Mexico City and ended at San Juan Pueblo north of Santa Fe. Explorers, missionaries, traders, and settlers utilized the trail from 1598 to 1882.

A map depicting a trail from Santa Fe south into Mexico. — The map below shows El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro meandering its way along the Rio Grande River through New Mexico.

When the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty was signed in 1848, ending the Mexican-American War, Mexico surrendered what are now the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, and Utah. The US paid $15 million for 525,000 square miles of land, which also included parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. Shortly after the end of the war, settlers began arriving in the new frontier via the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Fort Craig was established in 1854 to protect travelers from attacks by disgruntled Apache, Commanche, and Navajo people who resented the intrusion. By the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Fort Craig was home to infantrymen, calvary, and Buffalo Soldiers. Just one year later, those men would clash with the Confederate Army in the Battle of Valverde.

Jornada del Muerto

Fort Craig replaced Fort Conrad which was located about nine miles to the north. Both forts were not only necessary for the protection of travelers on the Camino Real, but they also served as resting places and water stops for those who had managed to cross the Jornada del Muerto section of the Camino Real. Jornada del Muerto means Dead Man’s Journey and is a ninety-mile-long stretch of mainly waterless, barren desert. Still, with very little water, its desert wastelands, and sometimes rough volcanic terrain, the Jornada del Muerto remains largely uninhabited today.

Fort Craig

Fort Craig was a self-contained community with a hospital, living quarters for officers and enlisted men, and large store houses. With such large store houses, Fort Craig, was able to supply other nearby forts. Children who lived at the fort attended school, and enlisted men’s wives worked doing laundry. There was also a sutler’s store which was a general mercantile usually owned by a civilian, a blacksmith shop, corrals, and carpenter’s shop. However, with the end of the Civil War and Indian Campaigns as well as travelers using train travel rather than the Camino Real, Fort Craig was abandoned in 1885.

The Ruins

Two of Fort Craig’s three large store houses.

This storehouse image shows the rock back wall and adobe side walls.

Store houses, which were dug six feet underground, had soil reinforced above-ground adobe walls and wooden roofs. The interior walls and roofs were covered with jaspe, which was a locally made type of plaster.

These crumbling rock walls are all that remains of the fort’s sallyport (entrance) and guardhouse. For a time, the guardhouse also served as a prison.

Remains of the commanding officer’s quarters.

These are the remains of the officer’s quarters.

These old adobe walls may soon be lost to the elements.

Towns north and south of Fort Craig flourished as trade centers while soldiers continued to protect travelers on the Camino Real. Although, when the Civil War began, Fort Craig would face different kind of enemy.

The Battle of Valverde

Edward Richard Canby, Fort Craig’s commanding officer, likely stood watch as Confederate troops gathered along the eastern banks of the Rio Grande preparing to fight. But Canby was ready. He had 1,200 seasoned soldiers ready to do battle, plus 100 Colorado Volunteers, 500 militia, and 2,000 New Mexican Volunteers led by Kit Carson. The Battle of Valverde was fought in February of 1862 at a shallow ford in the Rio Grande River a few miles north of Fort Craig.

This Library of Congress image shows the Valverde Battlefield.

Colonel Henry Hopkins Sibley was intent on marching his Confederate troops into battle in order to claim the New Mexico Territory which included Arizona. His plan was to capture Fort Craig, take their supplies, then head north to capture the territorial capital of Santa Fe. Sibley wanted to move on to seize Fort Union and then take the Colorado gold fields. By conquering these sites, Sibley believed he could easily take California, thus expanding the Confederate States of America to include west coast ports. Obviously, that didn’t happen.

While Canby led his men north into battle, Carson and some of his men held down the fort. The battle ended with the Confederates claiming victory, but they were unable to take Fort Craig. Upon Sibley’s command to surrender the fort, Canby refused, and the Confederates retreated. In all, casualties included the deaths of over 100 men, injuries to more than 200, and several missing.

Fort Craig Cemetery

Some of the Valverde battlefield casualties may have been buried in Fort Craig’s cemetery, however, the burial ground no longer exists. In 2004, reports surfaced of a man having the mummified body of a Fort Craig Buffalo Soldier in his home. Upon the death of the man, Dee Brecheisen, a Vietnam War veteran and Civil Air Patrol pilot, officials began investigating. Mummified remains were indeed found, along with some artifacts, though it was speculated that many other stolen artifacts had been sold.

Fort Craig Post Cemetery Report — Pot sherds fill a flowerbed next to Brecheisen’s house. Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Reclamation.

Authorities believe that Brecheisen had also robbed graves at other old forts as well as some Native American burial grounds. His obituary referred to him as a collector as well as one of the State of New Mexico’s foremost preservationists of historical facts and sites, he shared his extensive knowledge with historians around the state, adding significantly to New Mexico historical literature. Fort Craig’s cemetery excavations began in 2005 by archaeologists with the Bureau of Reclamation. Further excavations were made in 2007, and sixty-seven of Fort Craig’s remaining bodies were reinterred in the Santa Fe National Cemetery.

We would like to thank all of our followers and readers for your continued support of our site and for joining us at Fort Craig, New Mexico!

Do you enjoy Civil War history? Check out these other historic sites:

Antietam National Battlefield

Gettysburg National Military Park

Fort Donelson National Battlefield

Travel safely, y’all.

Mike and Kellye

New Mexico’s Salinas Pueblo Missions

On March 26, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips, National Monuments57 Comments

Where are the missions?

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is located near the town of Mountainair in central New Mexico. The national monument features:

Main visitor center at Mountainair with a small museum
Three mission sites with visitor centers and restrooms at each
Bookstores and gift shops at each visitor center
Accessible paved walking trails with wayside exhibits
Periodic night sky events
Free admission

The park’s website can be accessed here.

Snow dusted peaks near Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.

Why is this site significant?

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument preserves the ruins of three pueblos which were important trading hubs long before Spanish explorers arrived in the 1580s. Salt was harvested from nearby dry lakebeds (salinas) and became the primary commodity for trade at these pueblos. Due to the abundant salt trade, the Spanish government named the area the Salinas Jurisdiction. Other commodities such as pinion nuts and squash were used for trade purposes as well. The missions were built by Spanish priests who were sent to the Salinas Jurisdiction during the early seventeenth century to convert the Puebloan people to Christianity. Drought, famine, disease, and marauding Apaches drove the occupants of these sites away during the late 1600s. While the mission buildings remain today as important archaeological sites, there are still unexcavated mounds which contain remnants of the original pueblos.

Abo

Abo (pronounced Ah-bow) was the first stop on our visit. The site is located nine miles west of the main visitor center in Mountainair.

Spanish missionary Fray Francisco Fonte arrived at Abo in 1622 and took up residence in the pueblo until a church and convento (living quarters) could be built. Over the next six years, the Puebloans under Fonte’s direction, built Abo’s first mission church and convento, Mission of San Gregorio de Abo. In 1629, under the direction of another priest, renovations began on the original church and a larger church was built around it. The remains of the second church are what we see today.

The remains of Abo’s church and convento.

Interestingly, Abo’s church also features a kiva which is where Puebloans held their own religious ceremonies. No one knows why the priests would have allowed a kiva to be built in a Catholic church. However, popular belief is that the priests allowed the kivas as a compromise in order to aid in the Puebloans’ transition to Christianity.

Artist’s rendering of how Abo may have looked at its height.

Abo was abandoned in 1673 and remained unoccupied for over a century. Spanish sheep herders settled into Abo around 1815 only to abandon the site in 1830 because of Apache raids. Permanent settlers, namely the family of Juan Jose Sisneros, arrived in the late 1800s and claimed Abo as their home. Descendants of the Sisneros family still live in the area today. The State of New Mexico took over the site in 1938.

Built from mission rubble, reoccupation structures were constructed and utilized from 1815 – 1830 by Spanish sheep herders.

After visiting Abo, we backtracked to Mountainair, and then it was on to our next site, Gran Quivira.

Gran Quivira

Gran Quivira (pronounced Gran Kuh-veera) is located 25 miles south of the Mountainair visitor center. The largest of the three Salinas Pueblo Missions, Gran Quivira is also the most excavated. Contact with Spanish explorers first occurred in 1583, then again in 1598 when the Don Juan de Onate expedition arrived and referred to the pueblo as Las Humanas.

Gran Quivira became a satellite mission of Abo in 1629, and at that time, construction began on the first mission church, Iglesia de San Isidro. Construction of the newer, larger church, San Buenaventura, began in 1659 under the direction of its new priest, Fray Diego de Santander.

Remains of San Buenaventura and convento.

Gran Quivira was once a large city occupied by 1500 – 2000 people. A few yards east of the San Buenaventura church lies a small hill, now known as Mound 7. Excavations of the large mound during the mid-1960s revealed the remains of a 226-room pueblo as well as an older pueblo underneath.

According to the National Park Service, indigenous people lived on and around the site for 1200 years. We thought this was interesting because Gran Quivira did not have a nearby water source. Residents had to carry water from distant springs to the site.

By 1672 the people of Gran Quivira had gone, leaving the once grand city to lie abandoned for more than 100 years. Eventually, travelers and explorers began to show interest in the site during the mid to late 1800s. President Taft preserved Gran Quivira by establishing it as a national monument in 1909.

Now on to Quarai…

Quarai

Quarai (pronounced Quar-eye) is located eight miles north and one mile west of the main visitor center in Mountainair. Fray Juan Gutierrez de la Chica established the Quarai Mission in 1626, and under his direction construction began on the church in 1627. The church, La Purisma Concepcion de Quarai, was completed in 1632.

Like Abo, Quarai has a kiva in its convento. Spanish missionaries most likely thought it would not be a good idea to completely disregard the Puebloan’s old religion while attempting to establish new beliefs. The artist’s rendition below shows what Quarai pueblo might have looked like at its peak.

Like Abo and Gran Quivira, drought, famine, disease and attacks by hostile Apaches caused Quarai’s people to abandon the site in 1678. Settlers Juan and Miguel Lucero brought their families to live at Quarai in the early 1820s when some of the buildings were still habitable. The Lucero family made repairs to the convento and church and then built new homes which are now known as the Lucero Structures.

Some of the remains of the Lucero Structures.

Apache raiders destroyed the Lucero’s homes and burned the church in 1830, causing the Lucero family to abandon Quarai. Some of the Lucero family returned a few years later and began rebuilding as well as adding additional structures. Miguel Lucero sold the property in 1872. Today, the Hopi and Zuni people claim they are descendants of the people of Quarai.

The state of New Mexico took over Quarai in the 1930s and preserved the site as a state monument. In 1980, the National Park Service expanded Gran Quivira National Monument to include Quarai and Abo. Renaming of the monument to Salinas Pueblo Missons took place in 1988.

Visiting Salinas Pueblo Missions

There are few accommodation options in the small town of Mountainair. However, there are several options for hotels and RV parks in the cities of Socorro which is south of the national monument and Belen which is north. Both cities are less than an hour’s drive via I-25. Undoubtedly, a visit to the missions would make a perfect day trip from Albuquerque, which is just over an hour north, also via I-25.

We didn’t find much in the way of eateries in Mountainair, but there are a couple of cafes as well as a deli in the local grocery store. Furthermore, we found only one convenience store gas station, and of course the prices were high.

Regardless of where it’s located, the national monument was absolutely worth the trip. The history, the wide-open spaces, and the scenery made for a wonderful road trip adventure. We spent about an hour at each pueblo mission site, and the drive time added another hour and a half to our visit. As always, we recommend making the visitor center the first stop. We also recommend visiting during the spring or fall as the summer heat and the winter cold may be uncomfortable for some.

This scene from Gran Quivira probably hasn’t changed much over the centuries.

Thank you so much for joining us at New Mexico’s Salinas Pueblo Missions!

Need additional road trip ideas? Take a look at these other great New Mexico destinations:

Fort Union National Monument

Albuquerque to Taos Road Trip: Things to Do

Pecos National Monument

Ruidoso Road Trip: Things to Do

Happy, safe travels, y’all!

Mike and Kellye

As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) We aren’t paid for our recommendations, and we only recommend our own tried and true vendors and venues. Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.

A Road Trip in Ruins

On March 16, 2023 By Mike and Kellye HefnerIn American Road Trips, Uncategorized69 Comments

Some of you might be wondering why we haven’t posted in a while. Well, it’s because we’ve been on the road. Now that we’re home, we look forward to sharing our latest adventures with you, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s a short synopsis of some of what we encountered on our latest winter road trip.

New Mexico

Our trek covered some fun cities and national parks in central and southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona. The trip was fun and uneventful except for some weather issues. On day two we were met with 70 mile per hour winds near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Not only were we plagued with zero visibility in the blowing dust, but a tractor-trailer rig blew over in front of us and blocked the interstate. Fortunately, the driver was only slightly injured but had to be pulled out of the cab through the broken windshield. We didn’t get any photos because it was just too terrifying trying to help the driver and worrying if drivers behind us were going to see that traffic was stopped.

Blowing dust on I-25 near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Our planned hike in the mountains at Las Cruces was out of the question, so we spent a couple of hours eating lunch in a Subway sandwich shop and watching the awnings over their windows blow away. Luckily, our hotel let us check in early enabling us a place to get out of the wind.

Arizona

Day three was perfectly gorgeous: a bit chilly but with just a slight breeze. As we drove toward our first stop of the day in Arizona, we began to see some snow-capped peaks. But when we crossed the border, Arizona greeted us with gorgeous desert peaks, all topped with glistening snow. It was a scene that we would see throughout our trip, but it got even better.

Our first destination of the day was in those mountains, but not at a high elevation, so the weather was perfect for hiking and perusing the park site. We were blessed with perfect hiking and sightseeing weather for the next few days until we woke up to the scene below on day six. Our itinerary called for a morning of hiking in a national park, so we went prepared to be cold and muddy.

View from our hotel room on Day Six. It was amusing to see palm trees and snow in the same shot.

As luck would have it, the skies cleared, and we were able to enjoy the park as planned. While driving northward toward our next stop, we saw even more frosted peaks with fresh snow.

Then we saw this:

There were nine of them, but we couldn’t get them all in one shot.

One day we went from this cold and wet mountainous landscape…

We have high praises for snowplow operators!

…to this dry and windy desert landscape, all in the matter of a few hours.

Conclusion

In all, we traveled through three desert ecosystems with each one being unique in its climate, flora, and fauna. We also saw some breathtaking mountain scenery along with a few lonely backroads. Where Arizona meets Mexico, we saw the border wall and talked to a park ranger who regularly shares her lunches with hungry immigrants who have crossed said wall.

This is a spectacular cloud rainbow that we saw while we were on a backroad in Arizona. It’s fuzzy because we took it with a fully zoomed cell phone through the windshield while looking directly into the sun and driving down the highway!

It was an amazing road trip covering just under 2,400 miles. With that said, you might be wondering about the title of this post. No, it wasn’t a ruined road trip at all, even though we had to change the itinerary a couple of times due to snow. For now, let’s just say we learned a lot of history, visited some nice towns and cities, and did a lot of walking, hiking, and eating. We’re excited to be back in the blogosphere and cannot wait to share our latest destinations with you!

Mike and Kellye

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Where is It?

The History Begins With the Los Alamos Ranch School

Historic Sites

Massive Efforts

Three Sites, One Goal

More History Around Town

Mike and Kellye

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Where is it?

Many Roads Led to Chaco Canyon

The Great Houses

Pueblo Bonito

More Canyon Highlights

Wetherill Cemetery

Fajada Butte

Wildflowers

Mike and Kellye

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Where is it?

Fred Harvey

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter

Harvey Girls

Nothing But the Best But No Bathrooms

The Harvey House Legacy Lives On

Visiting the Belen Harvey House Museum

Mike and Kellye

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Where is it?

Ice Cave Trail

Bandera Volcano Trail

Final Thoughts

Mike and Kellye

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Where is it?

El Malpais Via Highway 117

La Ventana Arch

El Malpais Via Highway 53

Fire and Ice Native American Art and Dance Gathering

Mike and Kellye

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Where is it?

Rain, Rain Go Away

Canyon de Chelly – The Floor

Things Best Seen from the Canyon Floor

Ancient Rock Art

Canyon de Chelly – The Rim

Tragic Navajo History

Mike and Kellye

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Northwest: The Four Corners Area

North Central: Closest to Santa Fe

West Central: Closest to Albuquerque

East Central: The Middle of Nowhere

Southwestern: Closest to Las Cruces

Mike and Kellye

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Where is Fort Craig?

Why is Fort Craig significant?

Jornada del Muerto

Fort Craig

The Ruins

The Battle of Valverde

Fort Craig Cemetery

Mike and Kellye

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Where are the missions?

Why is this site significant?

Abo

Gran Quivira

Quarai

Visiting Salinas Pueblo Missions

Mike and Kellye