Historical Marker

Abó Pass Trail

Cutting through the southern edge of the Manzano Mountains, this area has always been an important trade route. The trail linked Abó and the Salinas pueblos to the Rio Grande pueblos, fostering trade of beans, cotton, buffalo meat and salt with the Plains Indians. It gave access to El Camino Real, and U.S. 60—originally a coast-to-coast highway—follows the trail’s route through the pass. One of the world’s busiest intermodal transport routes, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, runs through Abó Canyon, just north of Abó Pass.