A Rugged Stretch of Route 66 on the flank of La Bajada Mesa

The Route 66 and National Old Trails Road Historic District at La Bajada encompasses roughly 6 miles of rubble-and-gravel roadway preserving multiple generations of early transportation routes. Between 1926 and 1931, this corridor carried a US Route 66 alignment; before the creation of the federal highway system in 1926, it also served as part of the National Old Trails Highway and New Mexico State Highway 1. Aligned on a northeast-southwest axis, the district includes approximately 4.5 miles of the later US 66 route. An additional 1.5 miles preserves the earlier roadway, which descended the same 600?foot volcanic escarpment through a dramatic series of hairpin turns located about half a mile northwest of the later alignment. The two roadways merge roughly 200 feet above the base of the escarpment, sharing a single descent to the mesa floor.

At the bottom, the gravel road crosses the Rio Santa Fe on a timber bridge and continues for about half a mile to the county line, where the historic alignment has recently been paved. Beyond the roadway itself, the district contains: timber bridge over the Rio Santa Fe, masonry retaining walls, a former residence and tourist camp at the base of the escarpment. There is a painted campground advertisement on the basalt wall of the upper escarpment.

Covering roughly 36 acres within the Santa Fe National Forest and the Cochiti Indian Reservation, the district retains a high degree of integrity. Its hairpin turns, cross-section template, retaining walls, timber bridge, and surviving tourist facilities evoke the texture and challenges of early automobile travel in rural New Mexico. The experience is heightened by sweeping views of the Rio Grande Valley and the Jemez, Sandia, and Sangre de Cristo mountains visible from the roadway. - AsNotedIn