Ojo Encino, NM

Ojo Encino is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States, on the Navajo Nation. The 2020 census counted 222 residents. The community is in the northeast corner of the county, 29 miles by road west of Cuba and 120 miles northeast of Gallup, the McKinley county seat. Ojo Encino is on the west side of the valley of Encino Wash, a southeast-running tributary of Torreon Wash, Arroyo Chico, and eventually Rio Puerco, a tributary of the Rio Grande. The Bureau of Indian Education operates the Ojo Encino Day School, a K-8 school. As of 2023 it has 25 employees and 173 students. Ojo Encino makes sense once you see how its past, landscape, and current gathering spots overlap. The useful thing to know about Ojo Encino is that its older landmarks and current settings belong to one connected place.