Tucumcari Mountain
Tucumcari Mountain rises to 1,509 m in New Mexico. Palomas Mesa stands 1,620 m to the west-southwest, 20 miles off. The nearest named place is Comanche Country Historical Marker, a historic site less than a tenth of a mile away. Mesalands Scenic Byway passes 1.4 miles off. 58 named places lie within 25 miles, 19 of them named summits.
The story
Tucumcari Mountain, once referred to as Tucumcari Peak or Mesa Tucumcari, is a mesa situated just outside Tucumcari, New Mexico. Where the mountain got its name is uncertain. It may have come from the Comanche word "tukamukaru", which means to lie in wait for someone or something to approach. A 1777 burial record mentions a Comanche woman and her child captured in a battle at Cuchuncari, which is believed to be an early version of the name Tucumcari. The mountain was a key landmark along trails used by prehistoric Puebloans and Plains Indians, as well as the later Comancheros. The Comanche often used the mountain as a lookout, climbing up it to survey the landscape for animals to hunt. Pedro Vial referred to the mountain in 1793, while opening a trail between Santa Fe and St. Louis. Captain Randolph B. Marcy led an expedition past it in 1849. The French-American geologist Jules Marcou studied the geology of Tucumcari Mountain in 1853 and claimed that the Tucumcari strata were of Jurassic age. The Texas geologist, Robert T. Hill, visited "Mesa Tucumcari" in 1887 and again in 1891, and eventually concluded that the Tucumcari strata were much younger Cretaceous deposits, not Jurassic as suggested by Marcou. Also in 1891, William F. Cummins of the Geological Survey of Texas studied Tucumcari Mountain and his careful observations of the strata established beyond doubt the Cretaceous age of the Tucumcari beds. The town of Tucumcari was founded in 1901 and, in 1908, took its name—both in real life and in legend—from the mountain. Residents of the town of Tucumcari have painted a hillside letter T on the mountain. A cartoon version of this mountain appears in Cars with 'RS' (for Radiator Springs) substituted for Tucumcari's 'T'.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7851192, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 1509 m
How to reach it
- 1.4 mi off the Mesalands Scenic Byway
- 2.6 mi off the Historic Route 66, National
- 23.2 mi off the La Frontera del Llano Byway
Overlooks nearby
- Caprock View · 22 mi
- San Jon Hill View · 22 mi
58 named places within 25 miles
- Bulldog Mesa: 2.5 mi
- Liberty Mesa: 9.4 mi
- Mesa Redonda: 11.7 mi
- Mesa Quemado: 12.0 mi
- Bedford Hill: 14.1 mi
- Dunn Park: 2.3 mi
- Wailes Park: 2.6 mi
- Tucumcari Recreation Center: 2.9 mi
- Arthur Jimenez Park: 3.0 mi
- Tucumcari Historical Marker: 3.0 mi
- Tee pee curios (Tumtucari): 2.7 mi
- Tee Pee Curios: 2.7 mi
- Quay County Courthouse Historic Site: 3.0 mi
- Baca-Goodman House Historic Site: 3.0 mi
- Rock Island-Southern Pacific Passenger Depot Historic Site: 3.0 mi
- Comanche Country Historical Marker: 0.0 mi
- Tucumcari Mountain Historical Marker: 0.0 mi
- Llano Estacado Historical Marker: 20.9 mi
- Veterans Memorial: 20.9 mi
- Mesalands Community College Dinosaur Museum: 3.1 mi
- Tucumcari Historical Museum: 3.1 mi
- The Legendary Road: 3.1 mi
- The Minds Eye: 8.1 mi
- The Caprock: 18.7 mi
- Ute Lake State Park Picnic Ground: 19.9 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of Tucumcari Mountain. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palomas Mesa | WSW 256° | 1,620 m | 20.1 mi |
| Mesa Redonda | S 178° | 1,580 m | 11.7 mi |
| Saddleback Mesa | SSW 213° | 1,569 m | 16.7 mi |
| Pyramid Mountain | SW 229° | 1,499 m | 15.6 mi |
| Sand Mountain | SSW 197° | 1,496 m | 20.9 mi |
| Captivas Peak | WSW 251° | 1,493 m | 24.1 mi |
| Monument Point | WNW 299° | 1,489 m | 21.7 mi |
| Mesa Quemado | SW 234° | 1,478 m | 12.0 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:59 | 18:33 | 19:07 |
| June solstice | 05:42 | 19:36 | 20:13 |
| September equinox | 06:44 | 18:20 | 18:53 |
| December solstice | 07:00 | 16:08 | 16:47 |
Local time (America/Denver).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Mar–Jun, Aug–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 39 | 43 | 50 | 58 | 67 | 77 | 80 | 78 | 71 | 59 | 48 | 40 |
| Precip in | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Tucumcari 4 NE, 5 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 895885 — Tucumcari Mountain, Quay County, New Mexico.
OpenStreetMap element node/357581302
Day trips start here
Take the scenic way to Tucumcari Mountain.
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