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, United States^[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]