23 | Santa Fe Trail

Length: 188 miles. Driving time: 4 hours
All Year  Round
Designated a National Scenic Byway

One of America’s first great trade routes, the Santa Fe Trail, was critical to our country’s westward expansion. Sharp observers can still discern the wagon-wheel ruts of the historic Santa Fe Trail. Experience the Old West as you have never done before on this byway. Visit historic sites and landmarks and enjoy spectacular scenery, from rugged mountains to the plains. Archaeological sites include pictographs, petroglyphs, teepee rings, fire circles, and dinosaur tracks. 

The byway’s midpoint is Bent’s Old Fort, once a trading post and cultural melting pot – now a National Historic Site

Main Towns: La Junta, Trinidad, Lamar

Features include:

• Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
• Comanche National Grasslands
• Santa Fe Trail Museum (Trinidad)
• Dinosaur Trackway – the Original Jurassic Park – 1,300 Brontosaurus Footprints
• John Martin Reservoir,
• Lake Hasty, Nee Noshe Reservoir, Nee Grande Reservoir
• Boggsville

Wildlife:Goose, duck, turkey, blue gosbeak, Orchard Oriole, western mule deer, Piping Plover, eastern white-tail deer, bighorn sheep, Golden Eagle, extraordinary birding adventures