A few days ago when Eleanor and I were talking about our options for travel west of Kansas, we got a bit stuck. So we did what we often do: we opened up the map and just looked around for things that were unfamiliar and interesting. I regard that exercise as a real privilege, because it means we’ve got time to explore whatever we like, and that doesn’t happen as often as it used to.
After a few minutes of map searching I noticed a tiny green speck in northern New Mexico indicating a national monument we’d never heard of: Salinas Pueblos. We immediately got on the NPS.GOV website and discovered that it comprises three separate units: Abo, Quarai and Gran Quivira, each containing the ruins of pueblos that had been occupied for hundreds of years, but not much since 1667. We were already sold on going there, but it was even more interesting to see that the pueblos were in an area of New Mexico that we’ve never seen (or even heard of). So Salinas Pueblos became the centerpiece of our route home, and we made our other routing choices (like Capulin Volcano) around it.
We wanted to stay at Manzano Mountains State Park, but found (upon arrival) that it was closed. The official reasoning is severe fire danger, but locals told us it hasn’t been open for three seasons because of budgetary issues. So we ended up at the only other spot within 50 miles: an RV park in Mountainair, NM. And it was across the street from a very busy freight rail line. Oh well. At least we had a full hookup.
I hadn’t expected cell phone service in this part of the country so I wasn’t disappointed. Cellular voice service was hopeless, but Skype on the iPhone running over the campground wifi allowed me to make a few calls anyway. Interestingly, the new rooftop antenna and amplifier I installed last spring for Internet service worked amazingly well. (I was able to get online with the router reporting a virtually non-existent signal strength of -101 dBm, but used the RV park wifi most of the time.)
The fine weather continued for the most part, which made touring the ruins a picturesque experience. They are all around 6,700 feet elevation, surrounded by grassy plains and ringed by mountains in the distance. Puffy cumulus popped up each afternoon to dot the sky. Eleanor likes taking pictures of clouds, sunsets, and wildlife more than photos of ruined stone foundations, so she was practically wearing out her camera while I judiciously composed shots of the landscape. When we compared notes later it seemed she shot about three for every one of mine. But we both got great pictures. It’s hard not to, in such a majestic and historic place.
There is a very sad tale that surrounds these pueblos, which is well documented at all three sites. Since our recorded history basically begins when the Spanish attempted to colonize New Mexico, there’s not much known about the pueblo Indians life in the 800 years or so prior to the Spanish arrival. But we know all too well what happened when the first Spanish friars showed up, and it’s a classic story of outside influence destroying a culture.
The natives were forced to adopt Christianity and abandon their traditional beliefs, work as virtual slaves for the Spanish crown, change farming methods, and abandon trading with other tribes. It wasn’t long before these settlements that had survived for centuries were suffering from starvation, unrest, violent raids, and ultimately complete failure.
By 1677, the pueblos were abandoned: the natives migrated elsewhere, the Spanish decided New Mexico would never be profitable, and everyone lost. Other than a brief occupation by Hispanics in the 19th century, nobody has ever lived at these sites since. What we know of them today comes from records by the Spanish and archaeological study. There’s a lot more to the story, but you’ll need to visit Salinas Pueblos yourself to learn it.
Emma helped us out by doing the Junior Ranger program at all three sites. You get a pin plus a ribbon for each site, and she collected all of them over the course of a day and a half.
If you come here I recommend two nights minimum to be able to explore all three sites, if you can stand the train noise at the RV park. (My solution was to get very poor sleep one night, and sleep like a log the second. Huge thunderstorms on the first night helped with this.)
I know Montana owns the slogan, but this is really “big sky country.” On a clear night the stars and moon are worth a look, and it seems like the land goes on forever without a city in any direction. (Albuquerque is on the other side of a mountain range, effectively invisible from here.) There’s not much here beyond the salt lakes and the ancient pueblos, so it’s no surprise that tourism is minimal (cattle ranching seems to be the big business), but it’s a beautiful spot nonetheless.
Our trip “plan” at this point called for us to head to Silver City and then up to Gila Cliff Dwellings, but the recent rains in New Mexico caused the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to close.
It’s open again as of today, but with the warning that the trails may close in the afternoons as thunderstorms build up. Given that, we’ve decided to head over to Valley of Fires State Recreation Area in Carrizozo NM for a night and then figure out the rest of the trip from there. We’ve still got five days to play with before we have to be at home base, and we want to make the most of every day we have.