New Mexico Tourism

Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway

Northeast region of New Mexico Laurie Frantz

MAP: Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway Map

The traveler who loves big skies, lonely roads, and infinite spaces will find all this and more on the Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway. Early travelers on the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail must have felt a sense of awe at these limitless prairies. The byway spreads across northeastern New Mexico like a web, starting east of Raton on NM 72 and crossing into Colorado and Oklahoma. At 215 miles in New Mexico alone, this is one of the longer scenic byways in the state and takes several days to explore completely.

Three and a half miles east of Raton, NM 526 travels north from NM 72 through Sugarite Canyon State Park (Visitors' Center, 505-445-5607). Old buildings and foundations near the entrance to the park are the remains of Sugarite Coal Camp, in operation between 1910 and 1941. Camping, fishing, and boating are available at two small lakes, Lake Alice and Lake Maloya. The best time to make this drive is in the fall, when the leaves of the Gambel's oak are turning every color of the fall spectrum - green to yellow to orange to flame. The leaves shivering in the wind make the hillsides vibrate with warm color.

Driving east on NM 72 across Johnson Mesa, some of the most beautiful views in New Mexico unfold before you. To the north of the mesa loom the Colorado Rockies. The shadows cast by clouds drifting across the limitless sky darken the grasslands. Standing lonely on the prairie, St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church served early ranchers in this part of Colfax County. It was built between 1896 and 1897 and is listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties.

NM 72 ends in Folsom, where the traveler has the choice of driving southeast on NM 325 to Des Moines or southwest to Capulin. These towns would make perfect sets for movies depicting the early 1900s. Buildings with false fronts line their main streets. Folsom had its genesis as Ragtown, a railroad construction camp. The Folsom Hotel, on the National Register of Historic Places, dates to 1888, when the camp was renamed Folsom. The Folsom Museum (278-3616 or 278-2477), formerly the Doherty Mercantile Company, looks like an antique store but the contents are not for sale. One exhibit features the Folsom Archaeological Site, one of the most famous sites in the country. Here, the first accepted evidence of Ice Age man in North America was discovered in 1926. Prehistoric spear points, dating to about 8800 B.C., were found in the ribs of a now-extinct species of bison. The Folsom site is on private land near the town and is not open to the public.

The tranquility of these three towns belies the violent upheavals that sculpted the countryside. Capulin Volcano National Monument (505-278-2201; $5.00 per vehicle), located between Folsom and Capulin, was active as recently as 10,000 years ago. A two-mile drive takes you the thousand feet to the top of the cinder cone, and you can either hike around the rim or into the crater. From the top, there is an awesome view of about 100 volcanoes and four states - Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado. Looking to the southeast, you can see Sierra Grande, the largest single mountain in the United States. Forty miles around the base and 8,720 feet high, it covers 50 square miles. To the north and west, the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are etched against the sky on the farthest horizon.

Driving through the open country between Folsom and Des Moines gives a ground view of the volcanic activity. Small hummocks covered with lava pepper the landscape. Mining of Twin Mountain, a volcano on the south side of NM 325, has revealed its flame-red core.

North of Folsom, NM 456 intersects the namesake of this byway, the Dry Cimarron River, and runs parallel to it all the way to the Oklahoma border. The river isn't completely dry but it sometimes disappears entirely under the surface, where its presence is betrayed by the many cottonwood trees nourished by its waters. Three and a half miles north of Folsom, the river flows over volcanic rocks into a small but beautiful pool at Folsom Falls Fishing Area. Administered by New Mexico Game and Fish, it is open to the public for swimming and fishing.

The byway continues east on NM 456, and then north on NM 551 through Tollgate Canyon to Branson, Colorado. The canyon was named for a toll road constructed here between 1871 and 1873 by Bazil Metcalf. It was one of the most reliable roads for wagons between this part of New Mexico and Colorado until the railroad came to this area in the 1880s.

Back on NM 456, you can drive for miles without seeing another person, but you may see antelope, deer, hawks, and wild turkeys. Much of this country is unfenced grazing land, and cattle have the right of way. They see no reason to move when a car comes along and stare placidly at the intruding offender. Two fantastic geological formations, Battleship Rock and Wedding Cake, loom above the valley floor between mile markers 45 and 47. In the early days, many couples were married on top of the Wedding Cake.

South on NM 406, the road intersects McNees Crossing between mile markers 18 and 19. The three-sided Santa Fe Trail Crossing sign marks where the trail forded the North Canadian River. Indians killed Missouri traders Robert McNees and Daniel Munro here in 1828. Original Trail ruts can still be seen near the crossing. The byway follows Campbell Road to the west, just north of Seneca, where it crosses the Santa Fe Trail again. The National Park Service has a rest area here and interpretive signs, bringing attention to a two-mile stretch of the trail, marked by limestone posts. Some of the best-preserved segments of the trail are located in this area.

Campbell Road intersects NM 370 on its west end. Driving south on NM 370 leads to Clayton Lake State Park (505-374-8808; $4.00 per vehicle), which has one of the best dinosaur track sites in the world. More than 500 fossilized footprints were revealed when layers of earth and rock were removed for construction of the spillway. The tracks were left by at least eight kinds of dinosaurs over 100 million years ago. Huge flocks of Canada geese circle the lake and land en masse, raucously calling to one another as they move across the surface of the water.

Traveling north again on NM 370 towards NM 456 are dinosaurs of a different kind. A line of old telephone poles runs alongside the road. Ten feet tall instead of the thirty-foot modern poles, you can still see the shape of the tree in these antiques. The glass insulators are gone from their wooden pegs, probably removed long ago to grace someone's front porch. Their wires hang dejectedly down by their sides, proclaiming their uselessness. They stand sentinel over the rough-hewn stone shells of abandoned homesteads. This is a byway through lonely places and wide-open spaces. The sense of history is vast here. Traces of those who came before reveal themselves to those who seek them.

Highlights