From Geologic Features to Cultural Diversity
30 December 2024
El Malpais National Monument features an informative Visitor Center and several routes or trails open for exploration. It is an easy visit on I-40 in Grants.
After visiting the center, we drove out Route 117 to the spectacular mesas and sandstone bluffs, lava fields and vast vistas. Malpais is a beautiful area.
Also between Grants and Sante Fe lie numerous Indian Pueblos and cultural lands. Exploration is the plan for today.
Not far east of Grants is the Acoma Pueblo. Pueblos represent permanent North American Indian settlements, especially those in the southwestern US. Constructed from adobe, these multi-story structures supported large tribal communities. While often associated with prehistoric periods and the Anasazi culture, the puebloan tribes which inhabited these settlements were diverse, including the Zuni, Keres, Hopi, San Ildefonso, and others.
Pueblos were sophisticated societies with unique cultures, including pottery, dances, languages, religions, and architecture. Their crafts, jewelry and pottery are highly prized. During the era spanning from approximately 900 to 1350 CE, the people of Acoma built stone and earth dwellings along the cliff walls.
The Acoma claim they established their Sky City Pueblo in the 11th century with brick buildings dated as early as 1144. This early founding date makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States.
Perched atop a 365-foot mesa similar the one pictured above, the isolation and location of the Pueblo provided protection for over 1,200 years, shielding the community from the raids of neighboring Navajo and Apache peoples. Alas, it took foreign intervention in the guise of conquistadors like the Coronado expedition in 1540 to speed their destruction. Greed and a lack of respect sped up the demise of Pueblo people and culture. Worse, the introduction of infectious smallpox caused high mortality rates, as the people had no immunity to Eurasian diseases.
Today, the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum are closed as is the Pueblo itself. However, the loop drive is worth one’s time.
Petroglyph National Monument
Just west of Albuquerque lies the Petroglyph National Monument and its Visitor Center. Puebloans and other indigenous peoples inhabited this amazing natural landscape with its 17-mile escarpment for hundreds of years.
Native Americans and Spanish settlers left behind more than 25,000 drawings and petroglyph images.
No not drawn by aliens
Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring at least 20,000 designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold spiritual significance for both contemporary Native Americans and descendants of early Spanish settlers.
We make a stop at the Visitor Center for information and directions. There are no petroglyph viewing trails here but viewing trails varying in length and difficulty are located within a few miles. One of the best is Piedras Marcadas.
Piedras Marcadas Canyon
Piedras Marcadas, meaning “canyon of marked rocks,” has the densest concentration of petroglyphs along the 17-mile volcanic escarpment, with an estimated 5,000 images. About 1.5 miles round-trip, the trail is abundant with lava rocks and up to 400 petroglyphs. It was an easy walk with a slight rise in altitude. But the images are amazing. Unique, often humanoid, and oftentimes strangely alien, all drawings and carvings were done by early inhabitants of this canyon.
Most of the carvings were created by “pecking.” This was an early method of striking rock with a hard cobble stone called hammerstone, one of the earliest and simplest tools used by humans. This served as an ancient way of flaking off stone and creating images on the stone’s surface.
Archeologists believe that early Puebloans created approximately 1,200 petroglyphs in Piedras Marcadas Canyon between 400 and 700 years ago. These petroglyphs depict human-like figures, concentric circles or spirals, animal figures, and geometric designs. Pueblo Indians use these petroglyphs as a teaching tool to transmit their history, culture, and spiritual beliefs to their children.
Driving the Turquoise Trail
State Road 14 is better known as the Turquoise Trail, one of our National Scenic Byways. It meanders for about 50 miles into the mountains linking Albuquerque to Santa Fe. The name derives from the blue-green turquoise mined by the early Pueblo people who lived along the Rio Grande as early as 900 CE. Eventually, the stone became recognized as a precious stone to be set in silver and gold.
Sandia Crest to the east rises to the highest peak, at 10,600 feet. Overall, the drive offers amazing views overlooking the Rio Grande Valley. Along the route lie several historic and charming stops.
Golden
Tiny Golden, population 19, is a community whose gold rush days are long over. Thankfully, there is tourist life in Golden. One interesting site is the historic San Francisco de Asis Catholic Church.
San Francisco de Asis represents the architectural style of New Mexico Spanish Colonial Churches. In 1970, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. Today, it is a functioning Roman Catholic parish church with cemetery.
Originally, the church served as the center of a small 18th-century Mexican and Indian agricultural community. Constructed between 1772 and 1816, it replaced an earlier church in the same location. During that period, New Mexico existed as part of the Vice-Royalty of New Spain.
Winter Disappointments
Because of cold weather and hoped-for snow on the ski slopes, some unique sites close. One such stop is the Origamini Garden located just north of the community of Los Cerrillos. This “folding paper” exhibit colorful, unique metal sculptures. Sad to miss this one.
Another miss is the Museum of Encaustic Art. Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, is a form of painting technique in which pigments of color are mixed with the hot liquid wax. The gallery includes art such as painting, sculpture, and the use of cold wax. Both sites would have been interesting stops.
Reaching Santa Fe
A short drive brings us to Santa Fe and our lodging for the next few days. We stay at the Inn of the Governors near the center of Santa Fe.
Even Santa Fe cowboys use their iPhone to check messages, directions and reservations.
People have wondered if the Inn was built on the old Governor’s Mansion site, but history says no. Just a century ago, the Inn’s spot was a cave used to store ice as a water supply during the hot summers. By the early 1900s, this site converted from ice cave to livery stable, then auto shop in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Santa Fe started becoming a popular tourist destination. So, in 1965, Mr. Jeff Vander Wolk built the first 80 rooms of the Inn of the Governors.
The Inn may not be historic, but it is comfortable. We settle in, open a bottle of wine, and toast our safe arrival.
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