Toltec Gorge, NM

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Approaching Toltec Gorge from the east the huge deep gash in the rock mountain can be seen from a distance. In fact, this feature is visible in satellite photos from space. As you approach the canyon begins to loom closer until all you see are massive cracks and fissures everywhere.

Emerging from Rock Tunnel on the west side the steep hill falls into the Rio Los Pinos valley 600 feet below!

The gorge does not easily give up its secrets. Weather, light and timing all play a part when photographing. Be ready when you are riding the train because the sights go by all too quickly.

Toltec was also the name of a water stop on the railroad near the gorge. Very few old pictures show much about Toltec. According to past records there were a number of buildings on the site including Section House and a Depot similar to the one at Osier. An early water tank was located here and was removed when larger engines took over the line in the late 1920’s. The original log bunk house was 19x30 and the coal bunker was 8x12.

West of the section camp you can see the rock formation affectionately called Man and Woman Kissing.

As you ride the train from Antonito, you ease around a curve heading into the Toltec area, suddenly a mountain blocks your way! Relief comes as you spy the timber portal of Mud Tunnel. Also known as tunnel number one, the soft dirt and steep cuts to the portal lay bare with little vegetation. The total bore length of the tunnel is 349 feet.

This tunnel is mostly timber lined to support the unstable earth in the area. A fire consumed the original timbers. Some of the new roof is heavy corrugated steel with arched roof joists fabricated from railroad ties.

West of Mud tunnel, strange formations are weathered into weaker volcanic rock and ash formations near Phantom curve (c1890). The curve got its name because the tall rock spires in the area gave an eerie display of shadows from the headlights of trains that operated at night through the area.

Riding though rock tunnel is a trip as you fly headlong into the black chasm in the rock cliff. Traveling through the tunnel you instinctively pull your hands back as the hard rock walls whiz by just inches from the train. The smoke from the engine billows inside the tunnel filling the air with locomotive perfume. Emerging from Rock tunnel, the steep cliffs fall to the Los Pinos River, a 600 foot drop straight down! Famous Toltec Gorge takes your breath away as you gaze in awe at what nature has done to this mountain of rock.

The west end of Rock Tunnel originally had a wooden trestle supporting the track just outside of the tunnel. The trestle was eventually replaced by the stone retaining wall that you see today. It was common practice to build a quick trestle with the initial construction and then build a more permanent structure later when there was more time for a stone wall and fill.