Pecos National Historical Park is only about 35 minutes from Santa Fe off of State Road 63 and well worth the beautiful drive to get there. There’s archaeological ruins of the Pecos Pueblo including Kivas and an old Spanish Catholic church, gorgeous scenery including the Sangre de Christo Mountains, and a historic Civil War Battlefield.

The Pecos Pueblo and Mission Church Ruins Trail is a lovely self guided 1 1/4 mile long adventure that lets you explore inside the massive church’s walls and even takes you down into two kivas!

The Pecos Pueblo, historically known as Cicuye, the Village of 500 Warriors, was first inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans in the 1100s AD but expanded rapidly after the Tewa speaking Mesa Verdeans migrated to the area of the Rio Grande. But of course, the Ancient Ones inhabited the area since they began their hunt of the Pleistocene Megafauna over 15,000 years ago. Once the Spanish arrived, the Pueblo, despite having constant internal divisions, was an ally to the new Kingdom and Colony. During the Pueblo Revolt though, the massive Mission Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciúncula de los Pecos was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt in 1717 but was much smaller. What you see today is the ruins of that church which was abandoned after constant Comanche attacks in the 1830s. Most of the residents relocated to the Jemez Pueblo, on the other side of the Jemez Mountains.

The battlefield at Glorietta Pass and its hike (2 1/4 miles long) are on private land and a little trickier to get to so see the Visitor Center for information on those. Also, there’s no camping within the Park but there is camping all along the Sangre De Christo Mountains off of State Road 63.

The Battle of Glorietta Pass saw the Texas Confederates win against the Colorado Yankees only for the retreating Yankees to burn the Rebs supply train, forcing them to retreat and giving up on the West. If you’ve ever seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the battle depicted in that film (shot in Spain) is the Battle of Glorietta Pass.