“Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you” – Gordon Lightfoot
With three NPS sites in one day, day three of RTXVIII was absolutely packed. Molly and I are sitting by a lovely pool on a lovely night outside Santa Fe, NM, but I’m exhausted so I’m going to do my best to keep this brief.
Our first stop was at Capulin Volcano National Monument. To the best of my recollection it’s the first volcano I’ve ever been on. We started big with a hike around the rim of and then down into the center of the dormant volcano. There were views for tens of miles in all directions and winds whipping us the entire time, but it felt great just to be back on a real trail. On the way back down we stopped to hike the Boca Trail and Lava Flow Trails completing every inch of trail the monument offered.
Stop two was Fort Union National Monument another early Western Fort with a similar mission to Fort Larned, one of yesterday’s stops. Both forts were important in defending settlers and cargo as it traveled along the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Union also served as a supply depot for other forts throughout Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado and even played a role in the Westernmost battles of the Civil War.
The final site of the day was Pecos National Historic Park. This area was originally the site of a Pecos Pueblo. Spanish Missionaries also built a series of missions nearby in an attempt to convert the Pecos people.
We also managed to squeeze in dinner in Santa Fe this evening and were finally able to enjoy some of the tacos we’d been looking forward to along with some good local IPAs.
