Mt. Taylor, New Mexico
| Mount Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Tsoodził (in Navajo) | |
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 11,305 ft (3,446 m) NAVD 88 |
| Prominence | 4,094 ft (1,248 m) |
| Coordinates | 35°14′19″N 107°36′31″W / 35.238691747°N 107.608519189°WCoordinates: 35°14′19″N 107°36′31″W / 35.238691747°N 107.608519189°W |
| Geography | |
 Mount Taylor
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| Location | Cibola County, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Parent range | San Mateo Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS Mount Taylor |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike |
Mount Taylor (Navajo: Tsoodził) is a stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo Mountains and the highest point in the Cibola National Forest. It was named in 1849 for then president Zachary Taylor. Prior to that, it was called Cebolleta (tender onion) by the Spanish; the name persists as one name for the northern portion of the San Mateo Mountains, a large mesa. Mount Taylor is largely forested, rising like a blue cone above the desert below. Its slopes were an important source of lumber for neighboring pueblos.
Mount Taylor is the cone in a larger volcanic field, including Mesa Chivato. The Mount Taylor volcanic field is composed primarily of basalt (with 80% by volume) and straddles the extensional transition zone between the Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande rift. The largest volcanic plug in the volcanic field is Cabezon Peak, which rises nearly 2,000 feet above the surrounding plain. According to Robert Julyan’s The Place Names of New Mexico, the Navajos identify Cabezon Peak “as the head of a giant killed by the Twin War Gods” with the lava flow to the south of Grants believed to be the congealed blood of the giant.
To the Navajo people, Mount Taylor is Tsoodził, the blue bead mountain, one of the four sacred mountains marking the cardinal directions and the boundaries of the Dinetah, the traditional Navajo homeland. Mount Taylor marks the southern boundary, and is associated with the direction south and the color blue; it is gendered female. In Navajo mythology, First Man created the sacred mountains from soil from the Fourth World, together with sacred matter, as replicas of mountains from that world. He fastened Mount Taylor to the earth with a stone knife. The supernatural beings Black God, Turquoise Boy, and Turquoise Girl are said to reside on the mountain. Mount Taylor is also sacred to the Acoma, Hopi, Laguna and Zuni people.
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