The road makes an arc through Catron County, with the apex at Quemado, avoiding Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and Escondido Mountain.

Most of the route of US 60 from Abo Canyon to the Texas line parallels the Southern Transcon of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Curving back towards the east, the road enters Fort Sumner, the county seat, 21 miles (34 km) later.

[4] Just west of town, it serves as the northern terminus of NM 20, and in Fort Sumner proper, it overlaps US 84, which will persist until just before the Texas border.

The three highways proceed through Texico, and just before the Texas state line, US 60 leaves the concurrency and heads northeast while US 70/US 84 continues eastward.

For the distance of more than 300 miles (480 km) between Abo Pass and Amarillo, the highway parallels the Southern Transcon, one of the busiest transcontinental railroads in the west.