JEMEZ PUEBLO

JEMEZ PUEBLO is tucked within the Jemez Mountains on NM 4, 30 miles northwest of Bernalillo. The road to the Pueblo winds along the Jemez River past warm springs and through canyons of red sandstone mesas. Many Jemez runners have become some of the best long-distance runners in the world. Perhaps their advantage is their home of tall mesas and thin mountain air. Running is more than an athletic endeavor and has a unique place in Native life. For hundreds of years runners carried messages between pueblos, journeys lasting days over treacherous terrain. And maybe this is also the answer to any question of endurance, for the running invokes a sacred time for prayer and introspection.

Like other Pueblos, Jemez tradition traces their ancestry back to the Pre-Puebloans of the Four Corners, and the Pueblo is the only remaining village of Towa-speaking Pueblo people. The Pueblo is at the gateway to the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway. The main village, Walatowa, is open to the public only during feast days. Visitors are always welcome at the Walatowa Visitor Center which features the Jemez Museum of History and Culture.