The Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway
Raton to Johnson Mesa

The Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway is a scenic back road in northeastern New Mexico that traverses high mesas and wide canyons, along the way showcasing a lot of what makes New Mexico the Land of Enchantment. In driving this scenic byway myself, I was surprised at the diversity of landscapes that I passed through (and I've only driven about 3/4 of the byway).

I headed east out of Raton on NM 72 across a high plain that finally funneled into the entrances to several other valleys about 5 miles east of town. At the junction with NM 526 is the road that heads north to Sugarite State Park, Lake Maloya and the Colorado State Wildlife Areas of Lake Dorothey and James John. I took the right and went towards Yankee.

The valley was just exquisite with other valleys and canyons heading off to the north and south along the way. Yankee may have been something years ago but now looks to be mostly a church camp/lodge and a small grouping of vacation cabins in a beautiful location. As I headed to the east, the elevation rose and the tree cover changed. NM 72 is a paved road but it's not a primary road: there are soft spots, large cracks and some good potholes along the way (maybe this is the local method of speed control, it works!).

Every time the scenery changed, I stopped and took photos. Eventually I came to the bottom of Manco Burro Pass and found a sign there saying that there were no snow plows on the road ahead between 10PM and 7AM (good thing it was the end of May). Manco Burro Pass was a bit winding and not too far up but suddenly I was out of the trees and onto the top of Johnson Mesa. Behind me to the west I could see the Sangre de Cristo's and some pretty good thunderheads growing (I'd end up trying to stay ahead of these clouds almost all day).