Ghost Ranch

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 has preserved an estimated nearly a thousand individuals of an early dinosaur of the late Triassic 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'll find

• 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 - nearly a thousand individuals in one bone bed.
• Landscape tours - to the exact spots she worked from.

When to go

April to October. A full day.

Practical notes

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.

Key facts