Take an artistic New Mexico drive

If you missed last year's inaugural Pedernal Studio Tour in Coyote and Youngsville, N.M., it's happening again this weekend, renamed the Pedernal Arts Tour.

Hit the road

The tiny villages of Youngsville and Coyote (about 40 miles east of Cuba on U.S. Highway 550 or 10 miles west of the Abiquiu Dam off U.S. Highway 84) are at the base of Cero Pedernal, a large flat-top mesa that many visitors link to Georgia O'Keeffe.

Long-time residents think of the Pedernal as "El Cerro," the mountain where families have hunted, cut timber, raised cattle and sheep, collected piñon nuts, hiked and held family camping adventures over the generations.

Long history

The Ancient Ones, ancestors of current Rio Grande Tewa peoples, lived, farmed, hunted and made pots in this area in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the Spaniards encountered their descendants when they arrived in the mid-1500s. Some versions of the Navajo Origin Myth tell how Changing Woman was found wrapped in many colored lights on a flat-topped mesa east of Navajo land - the Pedernal. Jicarilla Apache have called the area home, and artifacts from the flint beds on the Pedernal date to 7000 BC.

PAST AND PRESENT

More than 30 traditional and contemporary artists are participating in this year's self-guided tour that takes visitors and collectors along New Mexico Highway 96 to at least six clusters of artists in front of homes and Consuelo's Gallery in Coyote. You'll be able to view and purchase traditional and contemporary arts and crafts such as micaceous pottery, retablos (paintings typically on wood carvings), furniture and textiles, paintings, photography, jewelry and wearable art.

IF YOU GO

Take the Pedernal Arts Tour 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and June 21. Complimentary maps are available at all the sites, at local businesses and by request from info@PedernalArtsTour.org.

Camping is available at nearby Riana Campground at Abiquiu Lake or sites within the Santa Fe National Forest; or arrange accommodations at nearby bed-and-breakfasts, rental homes and Ghost Ranch. Links for details and reservations can be found on the Web site, pedernalartstour.org, or call 1-575-638-5012 or 1-575-638-0306. Next year's tour is scheduled for June 19-20.