Gran Quivira Mission

From one side of the canyon the other is a total of .75 miles of breath taking scenery of the local New Mexico landscape.

Loop: South Crest Trail > Lower Faulty Trail > Upper Faulty Trail > South Crest Trail The trail starts at the Canyon Estates Trailhead along the South Crest Trail. You'll follow this trail for 0.8 miles before you reach the junction for the Lower Faulty Trail. This is the steepest part of the trail but it levels off rather quickly and offers beautiful views of the valley below.. You'll...

This point-to-point hike took me about 11.5 hours to complete, however I consider myself to be in decent hiking shape and was moving at about 2.5 miles per hour for the majority of the hike. I would give yourself ample time if you want to complete this in 1 day or you can back country primitive camp if you want to break up the hike into 2 days. If you decide to break the hike up I recommend cam...

The trail starts out at the Three Guns Trailhead and has great signage as you drive to it. You'll start the hike on the Three Guns Trail for about 0.5 mile before you'll officially cross into Cibola National Forest. Once you enter there will almost immediately be a spur to the Hawk Watch Trail to the right. After traveling briefly on this trail you're going to come to a large washed out area th...

*This is a loop hike so you can go either direction. I like going counterclockwise to hike the steepest part up instead of down at the end of a long hike.* You'll start out on the Three Gun Trail for about half a mile until you reach a spur to take Hawk Watch Trail. After traveling briefly on this trail you're going to come to a large washed out area that looks like you could go either left or ...

Get started at the visitor center to get the lay of the land. Then, take your time visiting all the historic buildings that are open to the public. This is a great family stop on a road trip as well as a good place to escape the heat during the summer.