Galisteo Basin / Southern Rockies
Galisteo Basin. The extensive lowland south of here is called Galisteo basin, a sag in the earth’s crust where rock layers are depressed and thickened. It is one of the northernmost basins in the Basin and Range province in New Mexico and is bordered by the Rocky Mountains immediately to the north. Elevation 6,400 feet.
Southern Rockies. These foothills and the higher glaciated peaks to the north are the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains. This particular segment is known as the Sangre de Cristo (“blood of Christ”), a formidable barrier that rises above 13,000 feet in a chain of peaks that trend from Santa Fe on the south to Salida, Colorado, on the north.
Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 285 and Old Lamy Trail (County Route 33), on the right when traveling south on U.S. 285.
Courtesy hmdb.org
