Espejo's Trail

This panel is missing from its post on US-285 north of Horizon Road. Antonio de Espejo, a wealthy rancher, led fourteen soldiers north in November 1582 to rescue two friars left behind by an earlier expedition, and found them dead. Coming home in 1583 he followed the Pecos River south through Jumano country, the first European to travel its full length, and reached Mexico on September 10. He died in Havana in 1585, on his way to Spain's royal court, as rivals contended for the right to settle New Mexico.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Espejo's Trail Don Antonio de Espejo, leader of the third expedition to explore New Mexico, passed near here on his return to Mexico City in 1583. After learning of the martyrdom of two Franciscan friars from an earlier expedition, he explored the Pueblo country and then followed the Pecos River Valley south.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park — 18 mi
  A zoo and garden of the Chihuahuan Desert on the Ocotillo Hills above Carlsbad, whose animals are injured or orphaned wildlife that cannot go back to the wild.
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park — 22 mi
  The way into the cave has changed four times: a guano miner's bucket, a wooden staircase, a 750-foot elevator, and now a timed ticket and a switchback trail down the natural entrance.

More markers nearby

• Loving's Bend — 4.7 mi
• Goodnight-Loving Trail — 6.2 mi
• Mother Magdalen and the Sisters of Loretto (1852-1968) / Carlsbad — 15 mi
• Josephine Cox "Grandma" Anderson — 15 mi