Ocate Peak, historically called Ocate Crater, is a volcano in northeastern New Mexico near the community of Ocate. It served as a prominent landmark on the old Santa Fe Trail. Before the Cimarron Cutoff redirected travel, the trail followed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to reduce the danger of attacks on the open plains, passing by Rayado and Ocate and west of the peak. After Fort Union was established in 1851, travelers shifted to an easier route that ran east of Ocate Peak and west of the Turkey Mountains. The name Ocate comes from the Nahuatl word ocote, meaning pine.