Santa Fe Trail mountain branch · Mountain Branch in Santa Fe Trail
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Mountain Branch in Santa Fe Trail
Mountain Branch in Santa Fe Trail
The Mountain Branch followed the Arkansas River a bit farther, accepting a longer, higher route for the sake of continuing access to water. There are some Trail sites at and near Lamar, Colorado , including Big Timbers Museum , on the eastern plains of that state; continue following US 50 along the Arkansas. Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site near La Junta is another historic park preserving an important outpost on the Trail in this area.
The Trail entered what is now New Mexico via Raton Pass, near the town of Raton, NM. Raton and Trinidad, Colorado on the north side of the pass have some Trail sites and artifacts; Trinidad takes pride in the fact that the Trail passed through what is now its (small-town) downtown area. From La Junta, proceed on US 350 south to Trinidad through Comanche National Grassland , with more of a sense of what Trail terrain was like. The Grassland offers a few opportunities for hiking on the actual Trail route, particularly near the Timpas picnic area. Iron Springs (reachable via County Road 9 just south of US 350) was an important Trail landmark and water source. Beyond Trinidad, the route basically followed Interstate 25's current route over the pass, and few Trail ruts or other artifacts are visible until you get to Raton itself. Take some time, however, to check out sites in downtown Trinidad.
After passing through Raton on I-25, turn west on US 64 for a section of highway that parallels the Trail, sometimes at very short range, for some time. There are occasional Trail crossings (generally not well preserved) on the way to Cimarron, a small town beyond which the Trail heads south toward its reunion with the southerly route. (Note, however, that the obvious markers supported by piles of tires along the north side of the road are not marking the Trail; rather, they're to alert would-be explorers to the presence of a non-historic but potentially dangerous gas pipeline.) St. James Hotel in downtown Cimarron has a long and colorful history dating to Trail days; if it's open, food, drink and lodging there are all atmospheric.
Beyond Cimarron, the Trail follows NM SR 21 for some distance en route to its meeting with the Cimarron Cutoff. The countryside between here and Las Vegas is impressively devoid of services; if you're driving this section, make sure you have fuel in your gas tank. A few road crossings are present, again not well preserved.
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Santa Fe Trail Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
