Thousands Climb Tomé Hill, Trek to Chimayó for Good Friday Pilgrimages

Foot traffic backed up on NM 47 and Tomé Hill Road before sunrise Friday as thousands of pilgrims descended on the volcanic butte southeast of Los Lunas, turning a rural Valencia County neighborhood into one of New Mexico's most congested corridors for a single day each year.

The climb at Tomé Hill covers 370 vertical feet from the parking area off La Entrada Road to a summit sitting at roughly 5,230 feet, where three crosses and a small shrine anchor the Good Friday observance. Pilgrims set out at sunrise and continued arriving throughout the day, with many walking from Albuquerque, roughly 25 miles north, on foot along roads that were not built for pedestrian volumes at that scale. Officials urged drivers on NM 47 to expect significant delays and remain alert for walkers throughout the day; emergency services coordinated nearby to provide first aid on terrain that is rocky, steep and unforgiving for anyone unprepared.

The Town of Tomé Land Grant, which owns and manages the hill, enforced its annual rules for the site. No animals were allowed on the hill Friday, a prohibition that covers dogs, cats, horses, sheep and goats. No additional crosses could be left at the summit; land grant personnel removed any left behind. Vendors were barred from the area. Pilgrims were directed to use trash receptacles, and land grant staff handled post-event cleanup on the site and surrounding grounds. The hill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and contains petroglyphs left by indigenous peoples, a layer of history that predates the crosses, which a local family placed in a postwar civic-religious act dating to the late 1940s.

Among those who made the summit Friday was Robert Sainz, 15, photographed in prayer at the top of the hill, a detail that illustrates how the pilgrimage moves across generations in Valencia County. That intergenerational pull is exactly what concerns Melanie Rodriguez of Chamisal, who completed the longer Chimayó pilgrimage to the north and described the walk as "spiritual growth." Rodriguez said she feared the tradition was "dying" and emphasized the importance of bringing younger people back into it.

The concern is shared broadly. Taos resident Jose Gonzales walked roughly 14 miles along the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway to reach El Santuario de Chimayó, a northern New Mexico chapel that has drawn pilgrims since the early 1800s. Gonzales said he had stepped away from the tradition for years. "I guess you could say I parted ways for a while, but now that I stepped away from it, I felt more of a calling spiritually to come back," he said.

For anyone planning to attend next year, the practical details are straightforward. The hill is accessible from Tomé Hill Park, about half a mile east of the NM 47 and Tomé Hill Road junction, roughly five miles southeast of Los Lunas. Parking is on the south side of the hill off La Entrada Road. Arrive early: pilgrims begin the ascent at sunrise, and the later in the day you arrive, the heavier the foot and vehicle traffic on the access roads. Bring water and dress in layers for early-morning desert temperatures. Leave animals and extra crosses at home. Expect the climb to take considerably longer on Good Friday than on any other day of the year.

The land grant and county emergency services will coordinate again in 2027. For a hill shaped by a Pliocene-era eruption roughly 3.5 million years ago, the annual challenge is more immediate: moving thousands of people safely up and down before dark.