By Kaitlyn Fletcher
Spanning 2,700 miles of harsh landscape, the Old Spanish National Historic Trail snakes through six western states: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.
At the height of its prevalence, this expansive trade network ran through the San Luis Valley, cementing its role in the western expansion of the Southwest from 1829 to 1848.
A Corridor of Movement
Sourced from Native American footpaths, the Northern Branch forks north of Santa Fe and follows the Rio Grande to the east along the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. This route skirted the once vast wetlands in the region. Travelers moved through San Luis and Fort Garland before crossing the vast Great Sand Dunes to Saguache and then on to Gunnison.
Some sections meet the definition of a trail, while others are better described as corridors of movement. This is the case for the route that straddles the Rio Grande corridor, abundant in historical and cultural sites.
Ken Frye, an archaeologist and president of the local La Vereda del Norte chapter of the Old Spanish Trail Association, explained that the “trail goes back thousands of years,” used mainly by the Utes. The La Vereda del Norte is the original chapter of the Old Spanish Trail Association. There are now more than 20 volunteer groups throughout different points of the route.
Frye described the centuries-old petroglyphs that are scattered along the route. They depict game animals, such as big horn sheep, antelope, and buffalo, hunted by the Indigenous people who migrated through the valley. Arrowheads provide further evidence of their presence in the dunes and wetlands.
The official route, recognized by the National Park Service, runs through the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, marked by interpretive signs.
A Landlocked Link
In 1829, a Santa Fe merchant, Antonio Armijo, blazed the trade route through rugged desert and mountain terrain to establish the first land link between landlocked New Mexico and coastal California. This southern section is now dubbed the Armijo Route.
“New Mexico was an island in the sand,” said Lynn Brittner, the Executive Director of Old Spanish Trail Association. “This multicultural trail was the first mercantile that opened up these isolated areas to new opportunities. It is a symbol of the western movement.”
Caravans of pack mules hauled artisan wool textiles, such as blankets and rugs, to California in exchange for horses and more livestock to work the mines and fields back in New Mexico. Furs, hides and even captives were traded.
Offshoots stemmed to avoid poor trail conditions, along with hostile encounters with people and wildlife, dependent on the seasons. When the United States took control of this vast territory after the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, this connection was no longer required and began to fade back into the landscape. Only breadcrumbs of the once-trafficked network across the Southwest remain.
“It is one of the crown jewels of the Sangre de Cristo Heritage Area,” Frye said. “We gotta protect what’s out there.”
A Nation of Trails
Concentrated in the West, with a few units sprinkled throughout the Eastern states, the National Historic Trail system retraces America’s diverse past marked on the landscape. This arduous route is protected under the National Conservation Lands System.
Finalized by (then) President George W. Bush, the Old Spanish National Historic Trail was designated by Congress on Dec. 4, 2002. It is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS), among other government agencies and local partners, such as the Old Spanish Trail Association.
“The designation of any area within the National Conservation Land System is dependent on the communities that want to see their land protected,” said Ben Katz, Southwest Associate Program Director at the Conservation Lands Foundation. “It starts at a place of values on the landscape.”
Divided into five different designations, the National Conservation Land System comprises 906 separate units, covering over 38 million acres and featuring remarkable natural features. Scenic and Historic Trails are one of these designations. It protects and highlights nearly 6,000 miles of natural and cultural routes across the United States.
The four other designations are wilderness areas, national monuments, wild and scenic rivers and national conservation areas.
In 2025, the National Conservation Land System celebrates its 25th anniversary of protecting and preserving our treasured public lands for future generations.
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The San Luis Valley’s – Old Spanish Trail Landform Sculpture was conceived as a way to mark the historic trail and highlight the cultures of the San Luis Valley, Colorado.
Mettje Swift, an artist from Del Norte, Colorado, conceived of the project and began by creating a proposal and identifying the participants. During the progress of the work, the project received funding from the Rio Grande County Tourism Board, the Forest Service and the Colorado Creative Industries.
Swift located the large sandstone scraps to be used and hired the local Gates Family to move the stones from the Old Stone Quarry to the sculpture site. The sculpture work began in 1999 and was to take 3 years working during the summer in the cool of the early morning. Mettje was joined by Ross Martin, a young sculptor from La Garita to help complete the sculpture.
Caption info from museumtrail.org
The theme of the sculpture was inspired by a small wood carving of the santa, La Conquistadora. Her story, as it involves the San Luis Valley and the Cathedral of Santa Fe in New Mexico, was carried north from Santa Fe with the Spaniard Don Diego de Vargas into the San Luis Valley with the founding families of the Del Norte area. The front sculpture is a wheel representing both time and travel of those families and others who came after. Other themes include local rock art, and a map.
More info on the Old Spanish Trail – La Vereda del Norte Chapter, click here!
The sculpture is located on Hwy 160 about 1/2 way between Monte Vista and Del Norte, CO.