On the way back from Las Vegas to Santa Fe, we stopped at Pecos National Historical Park.

Located roughly halfway between the two cities, the park covers thousands of acres. 

We walked the Ancestral Sites Trail, a 1.25 mile hiking loop with lush greenery and beautiful mountain vistas.

Purple flowers dotted along the trail add a muted but effective splash of color.

The juxtaposition of cactus trees and green grass is not something you’ll find in every corner of desert-heavy New Mexico.

I honestly first read this as “Enter With Carl” (Sandburg? Sagan?), but most made-made holes in the ground do require a certain amount of mindful navigation.

It’s best to stay on the path.

Walking along the trail, I had no shortage of opportunities for taking landscape shots.

However, Pecos is not just limited to scenic nature.

This trail’s centerpiece is the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels of Porciúncula.

What remains of the Mission itself is relatively substantial.

It cuts a striking figure against New Mexico’s bold, blue, endless skies.

A patch of sky within a fortress of adobe.

A man-made hallway onto a world of tall trees and mountains.

What’s left of the Pueblo, built sometime around 1619.

Although one of the sites of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonizers, today, Pecos is a somber, peaceful place. A half-hour drive from Santa Fe, it’s one of the more convenient ways to take in the simple, lovely essence of New Mexico.