Pueblo people describe this site as part of their migration journey. Today you can follow their ancient passageways to a distant time. Explore a 900-year old ancestral Pueblo Great House of over 400 masonry rooms. Look up and see original timbers holding up the roof. Search for the fingerprints of ancient workers in the mortar. Listen for an echo of ritual drums in the reconstructed Great Kiva.

Great Kiva

Rainbow over the reconstructed Great Kiva

Rainbow over the Great Kiva

Winter snow on Aztec West great house

Reconstructed stone kiva amidst stone ruins

Great Kiva in Aztec West plaza

Original "T-shaped" doorway in stone ruins

T-shaped doorway in Aztec West

Three layers of original intact roof beams

Original ancestral Pueblo roof structure

Aztec Ruins

Bandelier National Monument protects over 33,000 acres of rugged but beautiful canyon and mesa country as well as evidence of a human presence here going back over 11,000 years.  Petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls pay tribute to the early days of a culture that still survives in the surrounding communities.

Tyuonyi

View from a Cavate

Long House

Frijoles Canyon

a view of the Valles Caldera from Cerro Grande

Cerro Grande

The Rio Grande

Bandelier

Due to heavy rains, a portion of Volcano Road washed out and the entire roadway covered in debris. Volcano Road is closed to all traffic, including vehicles, foot, and bicycle, until further notice. Repairs may take months.

The Boca, Nature, and Lava Flow trails are all open, as well as the Visitor Center and Park Store.

A cloud shrouded volcano rises behind a field of yellow flowers.

Capulin Volcano

View of cinder cone volcano and the road leading to the top of the volcano as seen from the air.

Aerial View of Capulin Volcano

A shaded bench on the side of a paved nature trail wending through juniper trees and grasses.

Nature Trail at Capulin Volcano

Layers of rock are visible in the steep hillside along a road.

Volcano Road

View of a cinder cone volcano covered with grasses, small trees, and other plants.

Capulin Volcano-Best Example of a Cinder Cone in North America

High ancient sea ledges, deep rocky canyons, flowering cactus, and desert wildlife—treasures above the ground in the Chihuahuan Desert. Hidden beneath the surface are more than 119 caves—formed when sulfuric acid dissolved limestone leaving behind caverns of all sizes.

Looking up through the mouth of the cave on the Natural Entrance path.

The Natural Entrance

Visitors rest at the formation "Rock of Ages."

Rock of Ages

Visitors gathered in the outdoor amphitheater to experience bat flight.

A ranger presents a Bat Flight Program to hundreds of visitors.

Visitors watch as droplets ripple through a cave pool.

Longfellow's Bathtub

"The Chandelier" is spotlighted in this photo taken inside the Big Room.

The Big Room inside the cavern.

Gorgeous formations inside the Big Room of the cavern.

Scenic Big Room

A hedgehog cactus in bloom in a rocky garden.

Life Among Rocks

New Jr. Rangers

Carlsbad Caverns

Today the massive buildings of the Ancestral Puebloan people still testify to the organizational and engineering abilities not seen anywhere else in the American Southwest. For a deeper contact with the canyon that was central to thousands of people between 850 and 1250 A.D., come and explore Chaco through guided tours, hiking & biking trails, evening campfire talks, and night sky programs.

Red Mesa Black on White Bowls

Pueblo Bonito with Cliff Face

Gallup Black on White Pitchers

Night Sky Above Fajada Butte

Black and White Photo of Una Vida Great House

Una Vida

Chaco Culture

Take a journey on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail to savor 300 years of heritage and culture in the Southwest. This Spanish colonial "royal road" in New Mexico and Texas originally extended to Mexico City, Mexico.

tan-colored pueblo Indian ruins with blue sky and three people

Kuaua Ruin in Coronado Historic Site, Bernalillo, New Mexico

adobe buildings including two beehive-looking ovens with people in a courtyard

El Rancho de las Golondrinas, La Cienega, New Mexico

shrubby desert scene with people walking under a cloud-filled sky

Jornada del Muerto, County Roads A013 & E070, Sierra & Doña Ana Counties, New Mexico

fort ruins in the sunlight with cottonwood trees on the left

Fort Selden Historic Site, Radium Springs, New Mexico

Presidio Chapel of San Elizario, Mission Trail, El Paso, Texas

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

The richly diverse volcanic landscape of El Malpais offers solitude, recreation, and discovery. Explore cinder cones, lava tube caves, sandstone bluffs, and hiking trails. Wildlife abounds in the open grasslands and forests. While some may see a desolate environment, people have been adapting to and living in this extraordinary terrain for generations. Come discover the land of fire and ice!

Sandstone Bluffs Overlook

Snowy Landscape

View from El Calderon

Wildflowers on the El Calderon Trail

Lava Tube Cave

El Malpais

Imagine the refreshment of finding water after days of dusty travel. A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a sandstone bluff made El Morro (the headland) a popular campsite for hundreds of years. Here, Ancestral Puebloans, Spanish and American travelers carved over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs.  Make El Morro National Monument a stopping point on your travels.

El Morro in snow

El Morro with Sunflowers

Pool at El Morro

Trail at El Morro

Atsinna Pueblo

Then and Now at the Pool

A ranger recreates a historic El Morro Photograph

Ranger Recreates Historic Photograph

El Morro

Exposed to the wind, within a sweeping valley of short grass prairie, amid the swales of the Santa Fe Trail, lie the territorial-style adobe remnants of the largest 19th century military fort in the region. For forty years, 1851-1891, Fort Union functioned as an agent of political and cultural change, whether desired or not, in New Mexico and throughout the Southwest.

Freezing Fog in Mechanics Corral

Big Skies Over Officers Row

Sunflower in Enlisted Barracks

Remnants of the Past

Fort Union NM Visitor Center

Fort Union

For thousands of years, groups of nomadic people used the caves of the Gila River as temporary shelter. In the late 1200's, people of the Mogollon Culture decided it would be a good place to call home. They built rooms, crafted pottery and raised children in the cliff dwellings for about twenty years. Then the Mogollon moved on, leaving the walls for us as a glimpse into the past.

Mogollon Cliff Dwelling with T Door

Cliff Dwellings walls and rooms with narrow catwalk

A Place to Call Home

Sunrise view of Gila Cliff Dwellings with brilliant sky.

Winter Solstice Sunrise at Gila Cliff Dwellings

View of Mogollon dwelling rooms within a cave.

Looking Back in Time

Distant view of Gila river valley and mountains beyond.

View of the Gila River Valley near Gila Cliff Dwellings NM

Light snowfall on red rock cliffs along river.

Gila National Forest Approach to Gila National Monument in Winter

Eroded Cliffs Along the Gila River

Gila Cliff Dwellings

This site tells the story about the people, events, science, and engineering that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, which helped end World War II.

Manhattan Project

Follow the routes of mule pack trains across the Southwest on the Old Spanish National Historic Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California. New Mexican traders moved locally produced merchandise across what are now six states to exchange for mules and horses.

Santa Rosa de Lima de Abiquiú, Abiquiú, New Mexico

hikers walk beside a river with cottonwoods alongside the river

Rio Chama River, Abiquiú, New Mexico

desert scrub in foreground, spiky mountains in background, clouds

Sierra Blanca, San Luis Valley, Colorado

desert scenery, dead tree, blue sky with puffy coulds

San Rafael Swell, Utah

a river carves through the landscape, greenery in the foreground, mountains and redrock backdrop

Virgin River Canyon, Arizona

rocky trail through desert with yucca, mountain in the background

Old Spanish Trail segment, Nevada

trail through desert scrub with Joshua trees, mountains in the distance, puffy clouds

Mojave Road, California

Old Spanish

In the midst of piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine woodlands of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains not far from Santa Fe, the remains of Indian pueblos stand as meaningful reminders of people who once prevailed. Pecos National Historical Park helps visitors explore the cultural exchange and geographic features that played such crucial roles in the rich history of the Pecos Valley.

Pecos River

Every Kid in a Park

Looking toward the Glorieta Pass

Pottery Image with Feathered Serpent

Church and preservation workers in distance, kiva in foreground.jpg (943 kb)

Mission Church and Kiva

Looking from trail toward round uncovered kiva and low wall

Partially Excavated Kiva

Buffalo gourd in foreground, mesa in background

Buffalo Gourd

Pecos Mission Church

Pecos

Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers.

Mammal petroglyph along the Mesa Point Trail in Boca Negra Canyon.

Desert Mammal petroglyph

Petroglyph of a macaw parrot along the Macaw Trail in Boca Negra Canyon.

Macaw petroglyph

Petroglyph imagery of a coyote and rattlesnake in Rinconada Canyon.

Coyote and Rattlesnake watching over Rinconada Canyon

Petroglyph panel of sheep grazing in Rinconada Canyon.

Grazing Sheep in Rinconada Canyon

Winter scene of snow covered cinder cones at the Volcanoes Day Use Area.

Snow Dusted Cinder Cones

Petroglyph

Tucked away in the middle of New Mexico you’ll find Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. The three sites offer a glimpse into a unique time in history. A time entrenched with cultural borrowing, conflict, and struggles. The now abandoned sites stand as reminders of the Spanish and Pueblo People’s early encounters.

A path through stone walls of an old church.

Inside the Abo Church

Stone foundations of an old mission structure.

An overview of the Abo Mission

An solar eclipse outlines an old stone structure at Salinas Pueblo NM.

Annular Eclipse seen from Gran Quivira

A paved path winds through the stone foundations of several old kivas.

Kivas at Gran Quivira

Stone walls of a roofless building rise into a bright blue sky.

Quarai Mission

Pink flowers and green foliage frame the roofless remains of a stone mission.

Quarai Mission in Spring

Salinas Pueblo Missions

You can almost hear the whoops and cries of "All's set!" as trail hands hitched their oxen to freight wagons carrying cargo between western Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Follow the Santa Fe National Historic Trail through five states and you'll find adventure and evidence of past travelers who made this remarkable trip before you!

street scene with two brick buildings, a white house, and seven cars under overcast skies

Arrow Rock, Missouri

emigrant wagons pulled by oxen and horses cross the prairie with people walking alongside

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, La Junta, Colorado

desert landscape with a mountain that looks like a wagon from a distance, verdant green grasses

Wagon Mound, Mora County, New Mexico

long low view of a building outside that has white deck, pillars, and roof and walls of brick.

Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas

junior rangers sit on the tan desert ground as rangers speak and the fort stands in the background

Fort Union National Monument, Watrous, New Mexico

Santa Fe

About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera.  The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams. The area also preserves the homeland of ancestral native peoples and embraces a rich ranching history.

View of Valle Grande, Redondo Peak, and goldens aspens.

Fall Colors

Elk in Fog

View of Missing cabin with Redondito peak in the background.

Missing Cabin

San Antonio cabin under a mostly cloudy sky

San Antonio Cabin

View from La Garita looking south across Valle San Antonio toward Redondo Peak.

View from la Garita

Elk Bulls Fighting

Valles Caldera

Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Park preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.

New Mexico

El Morro

National Monument

Aztec Ruins

National Monument

Bandelier

National Monument

Capulin Volcano

National Monument

Carlsbad Caverns

National Park

Chaco Culture

National Historical Park

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

National Historic Trail

El Malpais

National Monument

Fort Union

National Monument

Gila Cliff Dwellings

National Monument

Manhattan Project

National Historical Park

Old Spanish

National Historic Trail

Pecos

National Historical Park

Petroglyph

National Monument

Salinas Pueblo Missions

National Monument

Santa Fe

National Historic Trail

Valles Caldera

National Preserve

White Sands

National Park