Raton Mesa (formerly known as Raton Mountain) is the name of the mesa that overlooks the town of Trinidad and is located in Las Animas County, Colorado. The highest point of Raton Mesa is Fishers Peak. In 1967, the Department of the Interior designated it as a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best e ...

br>
https://www.npshistory.com/publications/proposed-parks/co-raton-mesa-nm.pdf] Raton Mesa is the namesake for

Raton Pass Ratón Pass is a 7,834 ft (2,388 m) elevation mountain pass on the Colorado–New Mexico border in the western United States. It is located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, N ...

and also lends its name to the cluster of

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

s that separate northeastern

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

from southeastern

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, collectively recognized as the Raton Mesas (formerly known as the Raton Mountains). Raton Mesas are volcanic in origin caused by lava flows which solidified into

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. Over time the softer

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

surrounding the basalt eroded leaving several distinct large, elevated tablelands with precipitous sides. The Raton Mesas begin at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west and extend eastward for 90 miles (140 km) along the Colorado-New Mexico border to the

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

panhandle. In addition to Raton Mesa proper, the major mesas within this cluster include Bartlett Mesa, Horseshoe Mesa, and Johnson Mesa. East of the major mesas, between Branson, Colorado, and the Black Mesa of Oklahoma, lies a scattering of minor mesas known as "

Mesa de Maya The Mesa de Maya is a prominent volcanic tableland rising to above the Great Plains in southeastern Colorado. A narrow finger of the mesa extends eastward through the northeastern corner of New Mexico and a few miles into Oklahoma where it is kn ...

." Much like how "New York" refers to both a city and a state, "Raton" is used to refer to both a specific mesa and the larger collection of mesas.

Description

Interstate Highway 25 through Raton Pass, in elevation, separates the foothills of the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...

to the west from the mesa country on the east. For this article, Raton Mesa is defined as the area east of Interstate 25 between

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, most populous municipality in Las Animas County, Colorado, United Stat ...

and

Raton, New Mexico Raton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico, Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico, United States. The city is located just south of Raton Pass. The city is also located about 6.5 miles south of the New Mexico–Col ...

, approximately south to north, and extending eastwards about . Within this area are three distinct mesas separated by deep canyons: Fishers Peak Mesa in Colorado, with a maximum elevation of , Bartlett Mesa, mostly in New Mexico, with a maximum elevation of , and Barela/Horseshoe/Horse Mesa, straddling the Colorado/New Mexico state line, with a maximum elevation of . The elevations at the foot of the mesas are or higher. The flat-topped mesas are mostly grassland, but their steep slopes are wooded with

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

the dominant species, joined by

quaking aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen,

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

, and

white fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and southern Rocky Mountains, and int ...

at higher elevations and pinyon,

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, and

Gambel oak ''Quercus gambelii'', with the common name Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub that is widespread in the foothills and lower mountains of western North America. It is also regionally called scrub oak, oak brush, and white oak. T ...

at lower elevations. Mammal species include

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

, and especially

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

which are seen in herds of more than 100 individuals. Hunting, especially for elk, is popular in season on both public and private lands. Raton-Map

No public roads reach the top of the mesas. The only public road which penetrates the area is through Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico. It terminates shortly after crossing the border into Colorado at an altitude of . This road provides access to the three publicly owned areas of Raton Mesa: Surgarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico and Lake Dorothey State Wildlife Area and James M. John State Wildlife Area in Colorado. From the parking area at Lake Dorothey, the summit of Fisher's Peak is a straight-line distance of about eight miles by an unmarked trail.Google Earth Much of the Colorado portion of the Raton Mesa, including Fisher's Peak, was owned by the Crazy French Ranch until 2019 when the ranch was purchased to become a Colorado state park. Funds to purchase the ranch came jointly from Great Outdoors Colorado, the funding arm of the Colorado Lottery,

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

, and the

Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

Description

References

Further reading