Ghost Ranch
The red and yellow cliff country Georgia O'Keeffe painted for decades, and one of the richest early dinosaur quarries anywhere.
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O'Keeffe first came here in 1934, bought a house on the ranch in 1940 and painted the surrounding cliffs, Cerro Pedernal and the bleached bones for the rest of her life; she said of Pedernal that God told her she could have it if she painted it often enough. Landscape tours run to the spots she worked from. The ranch is also a major palaeontological site: the Coelophysis quarry here produced hundreds of individuals of an early Triassic-period dinosaur in a single bone bed, one of the densest such finds anywhere, and a museum on site covers it. The ranch is now run as a retreat and education centre by the Presbyterian Church. O'Keeffe's own house is separate and shown only on limited tours.
What you actually see
- The cliffs O'Keeffe painted - red, yellow and white banded rock.
- Cerro Pedernal - the flat-topped peak in many of her canvases.
- The Coelophysis quarry - hundreds of individuals in one bone bed.
- Landscape tours - to the exact spots she worked from.
When to go
April to October. A full day.
Honest expectations
O'Keeffe's house is a separate limited tour that books far ahead - the ranch day pass does not include it. Summer afternoons bring thunderstorms. Museums keep short hours. It is a working retreat centre, not primarily a visitor attraction.
Nearby
Abiquiu and O'Keeffe's other house are south; Chama is north.
What to pack for Ghost Ranch
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
