Abiquiú was the starting point and eastern terminus of the original route of the Old Spanish Trail. Though segments of an overland route between the Spanish colonies of Nuevo México and Alta California had been blazed decades earlier, Armijo was the first to pioneer a complete route that traveled the entire length. Armijo traveled with sixty mounted men and a caravan of pack animals carrying blankets and other trade goods to barter for mules in California. The caravan left Abiquiú on 7 November