Switchback Art on La Bajada Mesa
The Old Road Left Behind
Not so long ago, I enjoyed taking the train to the edge of Rome and walking on restored portions of the Via Appia back into the city, surrounded by the remains of long-gone villas and tombs and their intersection with modern life. A kitschy overlay brands the adventure as emulating the marches of centurions returning from war.
Earlier this week, I pursued something slightly different about a contrasting war—the one on cars. Southwest of Santa Fe, amid dirt roads with past Camino and Route 66 identities, I documented a predicate to the war on cars and the modern urbanist lament over car dependency.
I wanted to see the famous La Bajada switchbacks from a pre-1937 history when this highly challenging grade was the principal way early automobiles traveled from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.
The stories I’ve researched are full of highlights, from contemporary accounts of early car travel to amateur backroad historians documenting their recent journeys.
My video and photos complement videos that other amusing documentarians (query the sunglasses in the link) have made. See, particularly, drone-assisted Route 66 four-wheeler Roamin’ Rich here and here. Roamin’ Rich—and his laudable driving—symbolize an insult to the cultural landscape and may explain the Cochiti Pueblo's attempts to limit access to the road.
This entry continues my place-exploration process—this time interurban—and adds a varied artistic flair to the interplay of the abandoned road with surrounding natural and cultural landscapes.
The overriding message focuses again on how landscapes change, the impacts of such change, and the evidence (some would say scars) left behind.
I am asking you to come to Australia's first and only Heritage Listed City you will be made quite welcome. Mining has been our main source of income since 1885. Broken Hill (Silver City )