The Ruins of Pecos National Historic Park

Today we headed up to the Pecos National Historic Park nestled in the midst of piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine woodlands in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains not too far from Santa Fe. The park preserves historic sites and ruins from the pueblo people and tells the story of the unique geographic and cultural assets of the Pecos valley.

View of Glorieta Mesa

We toured the ancestral sites of the park on a self-guided walking trail, and boy, did we pick the perfect day! The sky was bright blue with scattered clouds and a slight breeze. It was a beautiful spring day in Northern New Mexico and we are loving the warming weather.

The mission church remains.

It was a bit of an adventure exploring the park for accompanying us were our grandpawrents and their two dogs! Our pawrents were having too much fun trying to wrangle four dogs through the park, but we managed just fine and tried to behave our best.

Little Ruby leading the way. 

We were doing well until we heard a chipmunk chirping in the corner of the mission church remains. Roxie just about lost her head, but when our pawrents explored the source of the noise, they found it was just a speaker! Whoops! Roxie was even a bit embarrassed.

From the park's walking trail, we could see panoramic views of the Glorieta mesa and pass, the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and the Pecos river valley in the distance. It was stunning!

We also witnessed just the beginning of spring blooms. The cacti were beginning to bud for their spectacular summer bloom around the solstice.

Overall, we had a great time exploring new grounds and learning more about New Mexico's past. We passed by a number of great kivas along the trail, and along with the guided tour map, it was easy to envision what life may have been like hundreds of years ago. The fertile valley provided the pueblo people with the means necessary for survival and also led to the unique cultural relationship between the people and the land.

What a great weekend outing!

-Rosie