The drive from Denver to Albuquerque skirts along the edges of the Rocky Mountains. There was always a mountain on the western horizon
The photo above is the view from Colorado Springs of Pike’s Peak in the western distance.
Shortly, I began to see signs that we were following the Santa Fe Trail…The Trail was actually started in the 1820s from Independence, Missouri, and initially used to supply forts in what is now New Mexico. Later, settlers began to form wagon trains, which had to pass through the territory of both The Comanche and Apache. Neither of these tribes liked truspassers. The path is actually quite easy for wagons to navigate…Only one main pass at the Colorado-New Mexico border…Mainly flat the rest of the way. BUT, the terrain was cold in the winter and hot in the summer…Not a lot of fresh water…and lots of rattlesnakes. The trail operated until the building of railroads made it obsolete. I didn’t see any, but I recall that it is still possible to see the wagon ruts in the soil.
My drive let me recall this history. Today, the route is marked by casinos for the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache tribes…A far cry from the past heritage…I guess that is both good and bad.
