Overview
Kit Carson will take you back to a time when much of the West was still a vast and imposing uncharted land of adventure and danger. As unique and impressive as the land he knew and loved, Kit Carson has been called “the greatest of mountain men.” Enshrined in popular mythology even in his own lifetime, Kit Carson was a trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier, and authentic legend of the West. During his lifetime he fought almost every major Indian tribe. Carson rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general in the U.S. Army, the only illiterate person to ever reach that rank. Although illiterate, he spoke fluent Spanish and was conversant in several Indian languages. Albert Richardson, a noted journalist who knew him in the 1850s, wrote that Carson was “a gentleman by instinct, upright, pure, and simplehearted, beloved alike by Indians, Mexicans, and Americans.”
This tour combines battles of the Civil War in the Southwest, the struggles for a homeland in the Indian Wars, and the rough adventures of the fur trade. All the while you are surrounded by some of the most spectacular country in America.
Your Historian Guide Mike Koury knows and loves this rugged country of Carson’s as much as it was loved by the legend himself. Mike is an author, the owner of The Old Army Press, and an acclaimed interpreter of the West. Kit Carson is a not-to-be-missed educational travel experience. |
Day by Day
Day 1, Sunday, August 3 Gathering day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Hyatt Regency for a welcome briefing and dinner hosted by Mike Koury and HistoryAmerica.
Day 2, Monday, August 4 The tour starts in Navajo Country with a visit to the beautiful Canyon de Chelly, where Indian tribes lived for centuries. Here Carson forced the surrender of 8,000 Navajo and sent them on “the long walk” to Fort Sumner.
Day 3, Tuesday, August 5 The route to Taos today is a journey of unparalleled scenery where we pass Chama, a pueblo which may have been occupied at the coming of the Spaniards.
Day 4, Wednesday, August 6 In Taos you will visit the Kit Carson House and Museum and the legend’s grave. Then on to the Martinez Hacienda, a massive, fortess-like adobe Spanish colonial dwelling. You will end the day at Taos Pueblo, an enduring structure that has been continually inhabited for centuries.
Day 5, Thursday, August 7 This busy day will take you into Colorado to the restored adobe Fort Garland. Then move on to La Veta Pass and Fort Lyon where Carson died. The end of the day you will tour the last home of Kit Carson.
Day 6, Friday, August 8 The day begins at Bent’s Old Fort, unquestionably the finest restored fur trading post in the country. You will get a taste of the “wild west” at the St. James Hotel — Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, and Zane Grey have stayed there. Carson’s home in Rayada and Fort Union, once the largest military installation on the 19th-century southwest frontier, are also on the agenda. After a stop at Glorietta Pass where Confederate plans to conquer the West were thwarted, the day ends in Santa Fe.
Day 7, Saturday, August 9 Today in Sante Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., you will visit the Palace of the Governors and the Kit Carson Monument. The afternoon is free to explore the Plaza, which is unrivaled in richness of history, heritage, and art. The day ends back in Albuquerque where you will enjoy a farewell dinner.
Day 8, Sunday, August 10 Depart Albuquerque at your leisure following breakfast. |
Mike Koury