The Mountain Archive

Spring is bringing the forest back to life. The Ponderosa awaken with their signature vanilla-pine scent of sun-warmed bark and sap mixed with the fresh mountain air. The towering trees, many over a century old, are a defining part of this landscape of medicine, thriving in the high elevation sunshine and open slopes. #ponderosa #pine #forest
The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring prog
The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring program conducted by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and their partners during the summer of 2025. Across the region, approximately 20,500 survey points were monitored, documenting over 280,000 birds representing nearly 400 species. A list of bird species observed on or near the ranch by the survey team is included in the next slides.
"San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, eff
"San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, efforts to create a motor through-way from Chama to Trinidad lasted for decades. Though the pass was never completed and comes to an eventual dead end, the road going up to the Mountain through Salazar Meadow is yet referred to today as Whiskey Pass. Photos: 1, The stone exit/entrance to the Salazar Tract/Petramala's bordering the Mountain Tract (La Sierra) on Whiskey Pass Road; 2, Newspaper ad for tourism, 1934.
This month's issue of La Pajarita features a mix of news, information, archival photos and vintage newspaper articles related to an ongoing history project of the Salazar Meadow. Sign up for news & information from Cielo Vista Ranch by visiting t
This month's issue of La Pajarita features a mix of news, information, archival photos and vintage newspaper articles related to an ongoing history project of the Salazar Meadow. Sign up for news & information from Cielo Vista Ranch by visiting themountainarchive.org.
A long and interesting geologic history laid the foundation of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. According to USGS, the ancient basement rocks of southern Colorado were formed during Precambrian orogenies mountain building episodes around 1.0 to 1.8 bi
A long and interesting geologic history laid the foundation of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. According to USGS, the ancient basement rocks of southern Colorado were formed during Precambrian orogenies mountain building episodes around 1.0 to 1.8 billion years ago. From about 1 billion to 400 million years ago, shallow seas and low lying land environments dominated, and limestone, dolomite, sand-stone and shale were deposited. Beginning in the Pennsylvanian, the Ancestral Rockies were born, then largely eroded, in a location that includes the current Sangre de Cristo Mountains. During the Cretaceous Period (145-165 million years ago), shallow seas again dominated, depositing limestone, shale, and chalk. From around 70 to 30 million years ago, the Laramide Orogeny formed the basic structure of the Rockies as we see them today. In the mid-Tertiary (about 25 million years ago), the Rio Grande Rift began to form, causing the east side of the San Luis Valley to drop and creating the steep western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Around the time the rift was forming, extensive volcanic activity deposited basalt and other igneous rocks throughout the region. Though most volcanic activity was over by about 21 million years ago, some occurred as recently as 5 million years ago.
Waning crescent.
Waning crescent.
Winter snowpack provides critical slow storage that releases water steadily come spring and summer. Sangre de Cristo snowpack has been consistently below average this season. The mountain SNOTEL site at 10’800 reports 18 inches total depth with the snow water equivalent about 27% of “normal” for this date.
Local, regional, and statewide partners visited Cielo Vista Ranch throughout 2025 to learn about some of its historic structures in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and History Colorado’s “Heritage for All” initiative. In 2026
Local, regional, and statewide partners visited Cielo Vista Ranch throughout 2025 to learn about some of its historic structures in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and History Colorado’s “Heritage for All” initiative. In 2026, the ranch and community will look toward preserving important structures with an emphasis on educational opportunities. The Ranch’s Education Committee will begin meeting quarterly in 2026. If you’d like to be part of this group, or to learn more, please email Kate at kperdoni@cathexis.com or themountainarchive@gmail.com Attn: Education.
The Jicarilla Apache, an Athabaskan Indigenous people, have maintained a deep, enduring connection to their ancestral homelands since long before European contact. Their traditional territory spans parts of what is now southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, including what is now Cielo Vista Ranch. Today our mountains are still shaped by sacred relationships with the land's rivers, mountains, seasons, and ecology in a landscape that tribal elders describe through plant medicinal practices, origin stories, arts, and ecological knowledge that emphasize harmony with nature and the sacred four directions. In this video, a Sun Prayer is told by Bryan Vigil of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.
Coffee brewing and snow falling at HQ ❄️☕️
Spring is bringing the forest back to life. The Ponderosa awaken with their signature vanilla-pine scent of sun-warmed bark and sap mixed with the fresh mountain air. The towering trees, many over a century old, are a defining part of this landscape
The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring prog "San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, eff This month's issue of La Pajarita features a mix of news, information, archival photos and vintage newspaper articles related to an ongoing history project of the Salazar Meadow. Sign up for news & information from Cielo Vista Ranch by visiting t A long and interesting geologic history laid the foundation of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. According to USGS, the ancient basement rocks of southern Colorado were formed during Precambrian orogenies mountain building episodes around 1.0 to 1.8 bi Waning crescent.
Winter snowpack provides critical slow storage that releases water steadily come spring and summer. Sangre de Cristo snowpack has been consistently below average this season. The mountain SNOTEL site at 10’800 reports 18 inches total depth with
Local, regional, and statewide partners visited Cielo Vista Ranch throughout 2025 to learn about some of its historic structures in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and History Colorado’s “Heritage for All” initiative. In 2026
The Jicarilla Apache, an Athabaskan Indigenous people, have maintained a deep, enduring connection to their ancestral homelands since long before European contact. Their traditional territory spans parts of what is now southern Colorado and northern
Coffee brewing and snow falling at HQ ❄️☕️

The Mountain Archive supports oral history, interviews, site visits, archival work, research, on-the-ground ecology, watershed education, and life in the forest with nature’s creations across the ancestral homelands of the Culebra sub range of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Production offices, a living archive and meeting space for committee work, local history retreats, and regional educational materials are centered from the Puertecito of the Culebra watershed at North Headquarters of Cielo Vista Ranch.

Say hello at themountainarchive at gmail or connect through La Pajarita News, Instagram, or YouTube. For hiking reservations or other information about Cielo Vista Ranch, visit this link.