Palo Flechado Pass

Palo Flechado Pass (Spanish: tree pierced with arrows),[1] also called Taos Pass and Old Taos Pass,[2][3] is a mountain pass located in Taos County, New Mexico[4] on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway.[5]

Geography

Palo Flechado Pass is 9,109 feet (2,776 m) in altitude.[6] It is located 3.5 miles west of Aqua Fria Creek[2] on U.S. Route 64 in the Carson National Forest.[7] A tributary of Agua Fria Creek, Palo Flechado Creek, is near the pass.[2]

History

Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache used the mountain pass on a trail from the plains to and then alongside the Cimarron River (also called La Flecha) before the arrival of the Spanish.[1][7] It continued to be used by Native Americans, Spaniards and Europeans on journeys to Taos.[2]

According to the historic marker placed at the pass, a band of Apaches, the Flecha de Palo, lived in the plains east of the mountains in 1706.[1] A common theory for the name of the pass is based upon a Taos Pueblo tradition for shooting arrows into a tree at a mountain pass following a successful buffalo hunt.[2]

Recreation

There are two hiking trails within a mile of the pass that go into the Palo Flechado Meadow and alongside a stream. The Elliot Barker Trail leads to a pond and then a dense spruce-fir forest. The La Jara Trail at Forest Road 5 parallels a stream in the Rio Grande valley.[8]

References
  1. Palo Flechado Pass. Archived 2014-10-09 at the Wayback Machine New Mexico Historic Markers. New Mexico Tourism Department. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  2. Robert Hixson Julyan (1 January 1996). The Place Names of New Mexico. UNM Press. pp. 256–257. ISBN 978-0-8263-1689-9.
  3. "Palo Flechado Pass". Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), United States Geological Survey. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  4. Palo Flechado Pass. Topozone. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  5. United States. Forest Service. Southwestern Region (1990). Enchanted Circle and Valle Vidal Loop tours: Carson National Forest. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. p. 12.
  6. Topographic Map Gap Features in Taos County, New Mexico. Topozone. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  7. David Pike (November 2003). Roadside New Mexico: A Guide to Historic Markers. UNM Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8263-3118-2.
  8. Bob Julyan (2004). Best Hikes with Children in New Mexico. The Mountaineers Books. pp. 55–58. ISBN 978-0-89886-886-9.

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