Puye was one of the ancestral villages of Santa Clara, San Ildefonso and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblos, occupied from about 900 AD to 1580 AD. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. There are extensive ruins at the base of the cliffs and on top of the mesa, with outstanding examples of early Pueblo architecture and stunning panoramas of the Rio Grande valley. The sheer number of cliff dwellings at Puye, and how far they extend, is overwhelming, indicative of a large community.

Join us at 10am tomorrow morning for a powerful time as we sing and bring our worship to Jesus. #songlist #churchmusic #setlistsunday #setlist #worshipset #worship #joltyourjourney (at Grace Hill Church)

Sometimes all you need is a mess of sloppy ribs 🍖🔥✔️😲 . Pic taken by Credit to @edgarrison3 : Cut up st Louie's . You ready to take your Instagram game to another level? Are you ready to make serious cash? First, you need to grow your account with real, organic and engaged people. My business partner @CupcakeProject and I are now over 800,000 followers combined and that took us less than 2 years. We can teach you how to do it too. We have two FREE webinars soon. Click the link in my profile to sign up . . . #mmmm #wow #thatpull #yummy #eat #bbq #stlouisribs #bbqribs #ribs #lowandslow #alldaylong #tender #grilling #bones #cinnamon #cinnamonrub #pork #nmbbq #joltyourjourney http://ift.tt/2ui2kqU

We Love Mondays Cuz It's Half Price Burgers Day!!! 🍔 #clancysnm #burger #halfprice #burgers #yummy #food #byob #howdoyoywantit #goodstuff #monday #joltyourjourney #livefarmington

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W51noDaWXXg)

According to oral history, the Acoma people lived on top of Enchanted Mesa before moving to their current village atop White Rock Mesa. In the summer, everyone would descend from the mesa to tend crops. The fields, and the springs that provided water, were in the valley below. According to legends, a thunderstorm washed away the sole access, leaving sheer rock cliffs all the way around, so they moved to a neighboring mesa, aka present-day Acoma Sky City.

Chaco Canyon is one of the most inaccessible National Parks in the country. Although it is well-known, there is no easy way to get there and there are no amenities once you arrive. The closest town is 60 miles away. There’s a gas station on the main road, near where you turn off on Highway 550. That’s the last opportunity for gas, water, snacks, sunscreen and supplies.

Furthermore, there is no good road to Chaco Canyon. Bluntly, it feels like an Indiana Jones expedition the moment you turn off the main road. The jolting journey evolves from a deceivingly decent dirt road to not so good to face rattling off your skull for a couple of miles. Also, there's a large wash on the way, which can become impassable during heavy storms. Don��t be daring, because there’s no cell phone reception either.

Salinas Pueblo Missions NM | The Tompiro people settled Abo at the end of the 11th century. They were the mountain relatives of the Piro, who lived further south. Drought, famine, raids & European borne viruses, like measles & smallpox, decimated the Tompiro pueblos by the 1670s.

Cumbres Toltec heading north out of Chama.

Colonel Edwin V. Sumner established Fort Union several miles north of the junction of the two main branches of the Santa Fe Trail, on a tributary of the Mora river, in July, 1851. He chose the location for several reasons. 1) Sumner deemed Santa Fe as “morally degrading.” There were a lot of bars and brothels, which provided too many tempting distractions for soldiers. 2) Use soldiers to construct a fort and to farm was less expensive than leasing buildings, contracting to vendors, or purchasing provisions. 3) Problems with Comanche, Ute, and Jicarilla Apache along the southern route of the Santa Fe Trail jeopardized the primary supply line to the new territory. Troops could patrol and be more readily mobilized from the Plains than from the Sangre de Cristos.

Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources, including five extinct volcanic cones, hundreds of archeological sites (including the Piedras Marcadas Pueblo Ruin), approximately 24,000 images created by Puebloans, Navajos, and early Spanish settlers over the last 200-700 years.

Autumn aspens in Chama.

Ancestral Pueblo people carved rooms, known as cavates, into the tuff cliffs of the Pajarito Plateau. Bandelier National Monument and Puye Cliff Dwellings are known for them, but they can be seen throughout the Jemez/Pajarito Plateau. I saw these next to the road between Bandelier and White Rock.