Raton is home to between seven and eight thousand persons, giving its name to the pass over the mountains to the north into southern Colorado. It is little more than a collection of caravanseries clustered about Interstate Highway 25 (I25).

Raton is a town alive, but not very prosperous. It serves the ranches in the surrounding area on the south side of the pass and travellers on their way to other places.

Accomodation & Dining

Fu-Manchu drove through less affluent neighbourhoods looking for La Portal Inn, which turned out to be an insalubrious joint giving the impression of renting rooms by the hour. First impressions count for much, so Fu-Manchu revved-up and drove back to the bright lights around I25.

Enroute from La Portal, a deer with a rack upon its head, a buck, stood on the viaduct over the road, turning its head to measure the threat of Fu-Manchu's hasty passage onward to lodging at the Comfort Inn. Dinner this night was at Dennies Restaurant, a national chain, a safe bet in the circumstances.

Last time Fu-Manchu stayed in Raton was when he came out of the west along the Santa Fe Trail, then he got bed and breakfast at the Red Rose Inn; still there at the north end of State Highway (SH) 87, with more prosperous housing spreading up the hill behind it west towards the small recreational area of Climax Canyon Park, it was comfortable, but sleep was disturbed by mournful lowing of trains and shunting in the Amtrak yard lying a block or two away.

Back then Fu-Manchu was brave enough to eat lunch at a family restaurant a few blocks south with many cars parked outside. Dinner was taken at the local Chinese restaurant where it was good to hear Mandarin spoken; the building was painted a devilish shade of pink — infamous with the locals too.

Outlying Attractions

In addition to Climax Canyon Park there is Sugarite Canyon State Park away to the northeast, which straddles the stateline between New Mexico and Colorado. East of Raton is Capulin National Monument, well worth a visit, the subject of another guide entry by Honourable Fu-Manchu.

To Capulin

Two ways lead from Raton to Capulin: US Highway 64, or SH72. Like the Honourable Basho,¹, Fu-Manchu prefers backroads, so take SH72 to Folsom, home of Folsom Man, then SH325 south to Capulin, which you cannot miss on a clear day for it sticks up like an inflamed carbuncle on the smooth surface of a lady's bottom.

Raton or Trinidad

With choice between staying in Raton or Trinidad, Fu-Manchu prefers Trinidad, only twenty miles farther north. Trinidad serves the same purpose to the north as Raton does to the south, yet with more charm. Most of these towns on the old trails are about thirty miles apart, a days stage by coach before the age of the automobile. Raton is utilitarian: Trinidad is attractive.