Basics
- Length:
- 140 miles (225 km)
- Time:
- A comfortable day, stopping at points of interest.
Description
NM 333, 41; US 60; NM 513, 55, 337, 131
Points of Interest
Points of Interest Along The Way
Cibola National Forest (NM)
Occupying three states and claiming four wildernesses, the Cibola National Forest provides endless recreational opportunities to visitors during all seasons.
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (NM)
Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa andTompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote frontier area ofcentral New Mexico. Early in the 17th Century Spanish Franciscansfound the area ripe for their missionary efforts. However, by thelate 1670s the entire Salinas District, as the Spanish had namedit, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard.
What remains today are austere yet beautiful reminders of thisearliest contact between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Colonials: theruins of four mission churches, at Quarai,Ab�, and Gran Quivira and the partiallyexcavated pueblo of Las Humanas or, as it is known today, GranQuivira. Established in 1980 through the combination of two NewMexico State Monuments and the former Gran Quivira NationalMonument, the present Monument comprises a total of 1,100acres.
Directions
Located just west of Mountainair, New Mexico.
