Most people don’t really give much pause to Northeastern New Mexico. Raton Pass is the gateway to Colorado but there is quite a bit of history in the area. Folsom, New Mexico changed the way we view humans in North America when a local rancher discovered bone and arrowhead fragments that upon further study moved the date of the first humans from 3,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago.
The area is also home to the only known T-Rex footprints in the world. Found near Indian Writings camp on the Philmont Scout Ranch.
And rising up over 1,300 feet above the plains is Capulin Volcano. Now a National Monument, this amazing geological feature helped shape the area surrounding it. Parts of the television show “Lonesome Dove” were filmed in many areas around Capulin and the storyline has been traced to stories surrounding the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a cattle trail that took longhorn cattle from Texas to markets in Colorado and Wyoming.
Here is more information on the Capulin Volcano National Monument.