Last updated: January 24, 2023
Place
Yost Draw, Jornada del Muerto
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
The Yost Draw trailhead is located on Sierra Country Rd. A013, near Truth or Consequences, NM
Significance:
The route through the Jornada del Muerto was forged as a shortcut that could take days of travel off the more difficult Rio Grande course
Designation:
Bureau of Land Management trailhead
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
1 listed
Trailhead
Somewhere along the meandering 1 ½-mile interpretive path that follows parts of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro to Yost Draw, a visitor may begin to wonder what he or she is doing in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto—the Journey of the Dead Man.
This parched and perilous section of El Camino Real spans 90 miles of desert where, in 1670, German trader Bernardo Gruber died of exposure after escaping a Sandia Pueblo prison. Gruber had been charged with practicing witchcraft by the Office of the Holy Inquisition, but he faced his final trial attempting to cross the desert. The decomposing remains of Gruber and his horse were reportedly found just beyond the escarpment at the northernmost point of Yost Draw, at a site now known as La Cruz del Alemán (The Cross of the German). The incident reportedly inspired the Jornada del Muerto’s ominous name.
Site Information
Location (The Yost Draw trailhead is located on Sierra Country Rd. A013, near Truth or Consequences, NM)
Traversing nearly 3.8 miles of the Jornada del Muerto, the Yost Draw section of El Camino Real today is one of the best-preserved portions of the trail. A short climb east on the interpretive trail brings hikers to an overlook from where the trail’s south-north path comes into view. This trail is managed by the Las Cruces Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.