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Garcia, Colorado and Costilla, New Mexico. There are only three other pairs of neighboring border towns or hamlets on the whole 37th parallel.  Garcia touts itself as the oldest community in Colorado– which of course excludes Native American communities that go back a few thousand years. No one here is living large; the Costilla resident on the left hoards pallets, the Garcia gentleman on the right keeps a couple of 60s Thunderbirds under a tin roof; their trailers have seen better times, but at least it’s dry here, so they won’t leak or rust much. Ute Mountain in the distance, orients everyone for twenty miles in all directions.

Below: Mile 137+64 chains, looking west.  N 360 59.7567′ W 1050 32.0654′, elevation 7738 ft

Below, Mile 138, looking west. Ute Mountain just west southwest of line. N 360 59.7570′ W 1050 32.2842′, elevation 7743 ft

 

Kidder’s monument at Mile 138, now as battered as its neighborhood.

The view east from the same location. Abandoned adobe derelict just on the Costilla side of the line; Garcia on the left.