Taos Mountain is Sacred to Residents and Visitors Alike

By Larry Torres, Associate Professor, UNM-Taos

Among the most dramatic geographical experiences that tourists and residents alike have coming into Taos is the imposing presence of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. They are a sub-chain outcropping of the Rocky Mountains that run from British Columbia to New Mexico and beyond. The Rocky Mountains were first home to Paleo-Indians and then to indigenous peoples, including the Apache, Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Dunne-za, Flathead, Kutenai, Sekani, Shoshoni, Sioux, Ute and others.

Taos Mountain, which is included in this chain, is known locally as Pueblo Peak. It is 12,305 feet high. Sometimes it is called Mó-ha-loh or Má-ha-lu by the inhabitants of Taos. Spanish residents refer to it as “la Sierra de los Indios” and tourists tend to call it “Skull Mountain” for the curious skull shape seen on its southeastern slope after a good snow fall.

Local belief and lore attributes power to the Mountain. Many people who have come to settle in Taos and have had successful businesses or relationships here claim that it happened because “the Mountain likes me.” Conversely, whenever something goes array it is because “the Mountain doesn’t like me.” Some people even attribute The Taos Hum to the electromagnetic vibrations emanating from it. There is even a famous luxury hotel in town named “Monte Sagrado” after the Holy Mountain.

Taos Mountain as a sacred site was popularized by Mabel Dodge Luhan, tutelary goddess to and financial supporter of many literary and artistic luminaries during the 1920s through the 1950s. It was said that she learned to appreciate the power of the Mountain from her consort Tony Luján of Taos Pueblo.

Many books have often listed Tony Luján as Mabel’s “common-law husband.” However, her divorce papers from Maurice Sterne were filed in the Taos County Clerk’s Office and Mabel and Tony’s marriage license was issued in Taos by his life-long friend Enrico Gonzales. The couple was married in 1923.

Despite Mabel’s vast publicity about Taos Mountain’s sacredness and spirituality tourists today are no longer allowed to scale it. In 1970 it was included as part of the Blue Lake settlement between President Richard Nixon and the people of Taos Pueblo.

The mountain slopes leading up to Blue Lake have traditionally been held to be the place of the ancestral dead. That makes the Mountain holy. These “Faceless Ones” appear wrapped in blankets and stand against trees there. They watch over the yearly treks that many Pueblo residents make through the Mountain on their way to Blue Lake.

Taos Mountain was witness to the Encebado Canyon Fire that took place on the 4th of July, 2003. The fire was caused by lightening and grew into a 5,400 acre forest fire. For eleven days the fire spread east into the mountains and the Rio Pueblo watershed by many accounts in The Taos News.

When many people think of the personification of “Sacredness” on earth, immediately Taos Mountain jumps to the fore. It is visual reminder, in a concept that is both Native and Franciscan, that the splendor of God is manifested in His most glorious natural creations.