Jemez Mountain Trail
La Bajada Ghost Town, NM

La Bajada dates back to the 1680s when it was inhabited by people from what is now across the border. Later, and for many years, the town served as a vital stopping point for stages, freight wagons and then automobiles after the harrowing hairpin descent from La Bajada Hill. The road, which was replaced in 1932, was along the route of the old Santa Fe Trail, which linked Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Most of the residents moved away in the early 1940s to seek a way of life other than farming. One of the most interesting ruins at La Bajada is the melting adobe shell of the Catholic Church and beside it the wooden fences and crosses of long-neglected graves.

--Courtesy of Henry Chenoweth.