Highway of Legends
Spanish Peaks, CO

The "Peaks" have been known by several names, such as Las Cumbres Espanolas (the Spanish Peaks), the Mexican Mountains, Dos Hermanos (Two Brothers), Twin Peaks, and Wahatoya (an Indian word, interpreted to mean "Breasts of the Earth.") Over the years, many people have been drawn to Wahatoya for many different reasons. Most who come say there is magic connected with the twin peaks that they feel no place else. El Grandote, a Tarahumare Indian, came to Wahatoya and experienced that magic.

Grandote came to the Wahatoya from far south in Mexico with his brother-in-law to prospect for gold, leaving behind his beautiful wife and their unborn child. One night, he dreamed he saw Nana asleep, but as he looked he realized that she was dead. Deeply disturbed, the two men returned to Mexico. Upon their arrival, they found that not only had Nana been murdered, but her father as well. Grandote, lost in grief, vowed, "Till the day I die I shall be true to Nana and the child never to be born!"

But he had another dream. In it the Great Ones Above said: "You must return to the Wahatoyas. Go at once for there you will find your beloved Nana."

Grandote returned to the Wahatoyas, and lay down to sleep near the mouth of the Cave of the Gods. To him in his sleep came Nana, and in her arms was his son. Together they strolled, night after night, the three of them, along the rippling streams and the placid lakes of the Wahatoyas.

Soon the voices told him to return to Mexico and bring his tribe back to the Wahatoyas. He did so, and for years his people lived in peace at the foot of the mountains. They wanted for nothing. But then the white man came, and made slaves of Grandote's people. Grandote prayed to the gods for help. The gods were kind. One day a huge rock slide roared down the mountain and buried the village, and everyone in it, keeping the Indians in their beloved Wahatoya forever. Only Grandote survived the slide.

And, it is said, he still walks the wild gorges of the Wahatoyas with his beloved wife and son.