Some Area Attractions

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A really big Pinon Pine (On the Circle A) is on the National Register of Big Trees. The pinon is an important source of food throughout the Colorado Plateau. We are also home to several Ponderosa pines almost 4 feet in diameter.

Santa Fe National Forest (adjacent) Circle A Ranch is an inholding on the western edge of the Santa Fe National Forest. Several great trails for hiking and mountain biking start on the ranch and lead to extensive trails through the SFNF.

San Pedro Parks Wilderness (1.5 miles by foot, 4 miles by road) Circle A Ranch is a gateway to the San Pedro Parks Wilderness via the Los Pinos Trail. The trail climbs 2000 feet over 3 miles through spruce/aspen forest as it crisscrosses a mountain stream, then connects with a number of intersecting trails that lead to the parks (large meadows). The mountains get most of their 35 inches of precipitation as snowfall, which spawns numerous trout streams.

Cabezon (Big Head) (30 miles) This basalt volcanic plug (one of 40+ in the area) is famous in Navajo folklore as the head of the monster slain by "Monster Slayer." It rises nearly 1,800 feet from the floor of the Rio Puerco valley and can be seen from the upper meadow of the Cirlce A. The area's scenery includes other volcanic plugs, colorful sandstone cliffs, unique badlands formations and hoodoos, and mazes of box canyons.

Ojitos Wilderness (50 miles) New Mexico's newest wilderness area. The approximately 12,000 acres of public land that make up Ojito Wilderness Area is characterized by dramatic landforms and rock structures, multi-colored badlands, a high density of cultural and archaeological sites, paleontological resources, and diverse plant and wildlife species.

Jemez Springs (50 miles) The Jemez Mountain Trail begins at San Ysidro and winds among stunning red rock mesas, ancient Indian ruins, volcanic formations, several hot springs, resteraunts in the village and shopping in the Pueblo. Also in the area: Walatowa Visitor Center, Ponderosa winery, Gilman tunnels, Soda Dam, Jemez falls, Los Alamos/Bradbury Science Museum, Jemez Monument, and Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Chaco Canyon (71 miles) Chaco Canyon was a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. It was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area - unlike anything before or since.

Bandelier National Monument (85 miles) Bandelier National Monument is an unexpected delight, with some of the most unusual and interesting ancient ruins in the Southwest, steep narrow canyons with plentiful wildlife, mountains rising to 10,000 feet, many acres of unspoiled backcountry and a colorful section of the Rio Grande river valley.

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness (92 miles) is a desolate area of weirdly eroded badlands withing great basin grasslands. Wind and water have uncovered a fantasy world of strange rock formations and fossils. Archealogical sites abound and the prehistoric "Great North Road", part of an ancient system of roads thought to connect major Chacoan Anasazi sites in the San Juan Basin, passes through the area.

Discover New Mexico A New Mexico Tourism Directory filled with over 1000 listings from all over "The Land of Enchantment."

New Mexico Department of Tourism Find Maps, Events, and Attractions for all areas of New Mexico.

Sandoval County Department of Tourism Find Maps, Events and Attractions in the vicinity of Circle A Ranch.