Rio Salado Sand Dunes

The range the panel calls the Ladrones takes its name from thieves: Navajo and Apache raiding parties, and later Hispanic and Anglo rustlers, used its canyons to hide stock. Ladrón Peak, its one real summit at 9,186 feet, rises almost 4,500 feet above the valley ten miles east. It is not a volcano but a block of Precambrian granite pushed up along the rift's western edge, and that is the panel's point: the same granite lies about four miles down beneath the dunes, dropped as the valley sank.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Rio Salado Sand Dunes Dunes along this part of the Rio Grande Valley are formed by sand blown northeastward from the normally dry bed of the Rio Salado (salty river). The Rio Grande is in a deep trench between the uplifted Los Pinos Mountains to the east and the Ladrones Mountains to the northwest. Rocks from the crest of the Ladrones are found four miles deep below the dunes.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Acomilla — steps away
• Rio Salado Sand Dunes — steps away
• Doña Eufemia — steps away
• La Joya de Sevilleta — 3.9 mi