The Turquoise Trail in New Mexico is a scenic highway linking Albuquerque and Santa Fe through rolling hills with mountain views and quaint historic mining towns. The trail begins to the south in Tijeras and the Cibola National Forest, then heads north through Cedar Crest, Sandia Park, Edgewood, Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos, before ending in the San Marcos/Lone Butte area.
We, however, began our trip in Santa Fe and drove south to Albuquerque. The whole drive time is about 2 hours without stops.
Los Cerrillos
Our
first stop on the Turquoise Trail was the mining ghost town of
Cerrillos. The town once boomed with 21 saloons, 5 brothels, 4 hotels, and several newspapers during the mineral boom. But now the remnants of the once-thriving town are very ghost-like and have served as the backdrop to more than a
dozen films, most prominently, Young Guns and Young Guns II.
The park, located roughly a mile outside of the sleepy town of Cerrillos, is open for day-use only and offers five
miles of trails and spectacular views of the Sandia, Ortiz,
Jemez, and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges and the remnants of several
mines.
The Park Elevation ranges from 5,900 - 6,100 ft.
As
you pass by some of the historic turquoise mine shafts, you can just
imagine the mine owner, James P. McNulty, as he discovered a stone that Charles Tiffany would later turn into a fashion statement. Amazing history! I gave up counting after the 8th shaft and started looking for water.
We
decided to take what we thought was a half-mile trail for it was pretty hot that day. Well, the half a mile turned out to be one and a half miles and then another half mile trek back to the truck. As you can see, D was hopping from shade to shade. We came upon several of the 1,100 years of mining shafts along the way and some awesome views!
The song "Been Through the Desert on a Horse with No Name" keep playing in my head the whole time we were out there. Thanks, Pam!
Madrid, New Mexico
Madrid is a recovered ghost town that now exists as a creative community alive with small galleries, cafes, and shops. Madrid
was once a coal mining town and all along the main street are small
miner's homes, which have been converted into shops and galleries.
Out of all the stops along the Turquoise Trail, Madrid is the most lively. This was a major stop along the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1800s, and it is also home to the old AA Minor League Baseball team, the Madrid Miners.
Out of all the stops along the Turquoise Trail, Madrid is the most lively. This was a major stop along the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1800s, and it is also home to the old AA Minor League Baseball team, the Madrid Miners.
As
we approached the town, I looked over at D and said, "I think this is where Disney might have filmed the movie "Wild Hogs". Sure enough, I did a quick search on my phone and discovered it had been a filming location, and also others had been too, including one of our favorite shows on Netflix called Longmire!
Come to find out, the Mine Shaft Tavern is the prop for the Red Pony in the series. So we did a quick turn around and decided to visit the bar.
Since
there were tons of bikers (of course) hanging out & eating, we thought we would grab something too and maybe a beer while we looked around. When we went to order the woman looked at us like we were insane! "Beer? We can't serve beer for curb service! Are you not from around here or
something?" Well duh! First of all, we thought maybe they were actually open because of all the folks hanging around and second, you can get a beer or glass of wine with takeout orders in most of the states we have traveled through during this stupid shut down. What has happened to us
Americans that we would give up our way of life so easily! Enough, already! Let's get America back to work already and our lives back to normal!
Sandia Peak
As we came toward the end of the trip, we arrived at Sandia Peak Ski area.
The aerial tramway travels above deep canyons and breathtaking terrain at a distance of 2.7 miles. The observation
deck is atop the 10,378 foot Sandia Peak in the Cibola National Forest and affords
an 11,000 square-mile panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley and the
Land of Enchantment and is located on the eastern edge of Albuquerque in the
Sandia Foothills at the end of Tramway Road. There is a restaurant at the base and at the top of the tram. We had hoped to ride the Sandia Peak Tramway and grab a bite to eat but of course, that didn't happen, so we continued on toward Albuquerque.
I so totally love the southwest and all the sights! I love traveling with your two (vicariously) and your pictures are THE BEST! Keep ‘em coming! Nothing exciting “back home” except a pandemic, demonstrations and storms...
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