I just returned from a short but satisfying trip through the San Luis Valley of Colorado and a small chunk of northern New Mexico between Taos and Chama. I was out to snap a few photos of the past- The faces of the forgotten and forlorn buildings of the region- A region still very much alive, but where the past coexists side-by-side with the present.
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Garcia, Colorado
There is a unique energy in this part of the world. I can not describe it, but things just look and feel “different” in some way as you travel down the lonely stretches of blacktop that run the length of the San Luis Valley and North-Central New Mexico. There is something about this area and it’s vast openness and sweeping views, the surreal aspect of the Great Sand Dunes butting up against the jagged snow-capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the Taos plateau and the great defile of the Rio Grande Gorge that rips through the middle of it- This is an area of intense natural beauty and quiet, peaceful, solitude. Some even say this is an area of supernatural or otherworldly energy- Cattle mutilations, UFO sightings, and the “Taos Hum” which reportedly only about 10% of people can hear, are evidence of this theory.
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Hooper, Colorado
Along a back road in northern New Mexico
Mosca, Colorado
Moffatt, Colorado
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Colorado Ghost Travels- The Gold Belt Region Guide Book by Jeff Eberle Only $20!
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Garcia, Colorado
Moffatt, Colorado
18th Century Spanish Colonial Church, New Mexico
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Moffatt, Colorado
2016 Ghosts of Colorado Calendar by Jeff Eberle only $14.99!
Garcia, Colorado
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
Hooper, Colorado
Costilla, New Mexico
Moffatt, Colorado
Abandoned Church, New Mexico
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
New Mexico
Costilla, New Mexico
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
Life...Death...Iron 
As always beautiful pictures, son.
Thank you so very much for the amazingly, wonderful pictures! I was born in Capulin, and came to Pueblo as an infant. I would love to get to know the San Luis Valley, and hope to go there sometime in the near future. It is a great thing what you are doing!!
love this, i’m from the San Luis Valley, living in Miami now… and your words touched my heart!
MY DAD LEE MONTOYA JR. WAS BORN IN CHAMA, AND MY MOM PRESCILLA MEYER MONTOYA WAS BORN IN SAN LUIS COLORADO. MY DAD AND MY MOM ARE ALSO BURIED IN SAN LUIS COLO. CENTENARY I AM THERE DAUGHTER ELLA MONTOYA KLEPPE VERY INTERESTED TO KNOW MORE OF SAN LUIS AND OF CHAMA..
I grew up in Tierra Amarilla, what a shame to see the dilapidation of those same structures I knew as a boy when the business’s were in full swing and all those houses were occupied by happy families prior to 1956 when I left. Thank you for sharing these photos, possibly the locals will see them and do something about cleaning up their town.
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[…] Abandoned Faces of Colorado’s San Luis Valley and Northern New Mexico. […]
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