The Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway
Cerrillos to Golden

The Turquoise Trail leaves Cerrillos and heads south up a narrow canyon and over the hill to Madrid. Cerrillos architecture is very Pueblo and Hispanic, where Madrid architecture is almost Appalachian coal mine. Madrid also has a much more commercial feeling than Cerrillos.

It's only a couple of miles across Madrid and then you're up the hill and back into the wide, open spaces, very wide and very open. It's only a few miles to Golden but there isn't much except views in between. Golden is almost a ghost town. There was a time, though, when Golden was a bustling little gold mining community. There seems to have been a good placer deposit here because there's an old tipple right beside the road as you go through town. The San Pedro Mountains, which are still ahead of you to the southeast, were the site of the very first Gold Rush in America back in 1825. Obviously though, the gold strike didn't last long or there'd be larger towns around, or at least more ruins...

I went south a bit past Golden on the day I took these photos before turning around and heading back to Santa Fe to do the business I was down there for. The road views are very similar to what I've shown here already as you continue south to San Antonio, except the Sandias keep getting larger. Then you're heading uphill and the trees get larger and more frequent. Then you crest the ridge and begin the long descent through all the bedroom communities that have sprung up on the east side of the Sandias until you reach the I-40 at Tijeras.