Consider standing in a spot where, for thousands of years, peoples of all kinds and generations have stood. That, I suppose, can be said of anywhere, but here, at the Pecos National Historic Park, the sensation is a little more real. Between the Glorieta Mesa (in the picture to the left) and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (in the picture below left), it's easy to visualize a multitude of cultures that has used the pass to enter into the Pecos Valley, where now sits the Pecos National Historic Park.
It's through this pass that native Indians, missionaries, warriors, settlers and ranchers made history beginning in the years Before Christ and continuing to present day when railroads replaced The Santa Fe Trail.
It's here that various battles were fought through the ages, and where New Mexico became a territory of the United States.
What we see today on these grounds are the ruins of past cultures, the most magnificent being the mission church, partially standing. Short walls mark various rooms, and several kivas can be seen; some of them can be entered by ladder.
The trail to the ruins starts behind the Visitor Center, but the surrounding grounds are filled with hiking trails that wander through ancestral sites, battlefields and areas of former ranching.
Enjoy this wonderful historical area and please remember to leave no trace.
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