#208 SW Fall 2023, Part 2

 

SW Fall 2023, Part 2

Along the Rio Grande River between Santa Fe and Taos, NM.

This post continues our story of our fall trip to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico with pictures I hope will give a sense of the beauty we find in the American Southwest. I’ve already presented images of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, but we also took a couple of day trips from Taos hunting for special scenery. In previous trips to the Taos area I’ve taken photo tours with local professional photographer Geraint Smith—both were fantastic experiences. 

A Geraint Smith photo we purchased last year at a Taos gallery now hangs in our living room.

In fact, they were so good that I thought I could find the great scenery myself. Boy, was I wrong. This time I found good photo subjects, but more than anything else I proved how valuable the knowledge of a professional guide can be. I owe Geraint even more thanks. Please take a look at his work on his website [ https://geraintsmith.com ]. Let me know if you enjoy the following tour of the areas around Santa Fe and Taos.

Another view along the Rio Grande.

Camel Rock. Between Santa Fe and Taos just off the freeway is a rock formation worth noting. Camel Rock is a 40 ft by 100 ft chunk of sandstone that (with a little imagination) resembles a camel. The view of this 450 million year old structure is better from the parking area than the close-up view at the end of the short trail up to the rock. 

A view from Camel Rock.

The Camel

The camel image was stronger before a large piece fell off in 2017.

Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood Tree. One of the scenic spots Geraint took us to on our last tour with him was a spot we revisited (after driving past it twice). It’s a particularly picturesque lone cottonwood tree just off Hwy 522 north from Taos just before reaching Arroyo Honda, a small unincorporated village. We past the village on our way toward Colorado and when we drove the Enchanted Circle. 

The tree is lovely particularly as it changes into its fall colors. We were a little early this year, but it’s still  a photo worth a stop.

Last Year's Colors

Garcia, Colorado. One of the spots we visited with Geraint was, according to residents, the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the state. Garcia (7730 ft) is a small village off Colorado state highway 159 (NM 522). 

The area around Garcia is criss-crossed by a multitude of small paved and gravel roads. 

Ute Mountain, CO

Anne and I found some good photo subjects, but missed some of the great subjects of the year before.

Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is an 84 mile loop into the high scenic area in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The route goes from Taos north (the way we did the circle) on NM 522 to Questa where you take NM 38 through Red River to Eagle’s Nest. From there drive NM 434 to Angel Fire where you catch NM 64 to go back to Taos.

Climbing up to the first mountain pass.

The route goes through mountain passes as high as 9500 feet and large valleys or plateaus.  

Both Red River and Angel Fire have well developed ski area and the road encircles Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain is New Mexico at 13,161 feet. We stopped in Angel Fire for lunch, but instead of going to the tourist restaurant (fancy and expensive), we opted for J & A Cafe, a rustic off the main road local's spot which was filled with locals. There we shared a fantastic lunch of fresh catfish and chips for $11.95.

When you drive the Enchanted Circle you are passing through scenery made famous by “Easy Rider” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” which were filmed in the area. The last adventure for us of the Enchanted Circle was the mountain road construction project about a mile out of Angel Fire. We wait almost an hour to drive the five miles of curvy construction up to the last pass over into Taos. I ended up being the lead car (after the working truck) and led a mile of traffic the last 18 miles of the trip.

The road into Taos, after the roadwork area, is a wonderfully colorful canyon, but there are very few turnouts and with a mile of cars behind me I wasn't about to stop. Anne did get this great view from our moving car.

NEXT: Museums and Friends in about two weeks. 

Post 200 (corrected number) More from TAOS

    There were several highlights to our October visit to Taos, but these three standout stories with our Photo Tour with Geraint (see the last post).

     TAOS PUEBLO 

     We had tried to visit the Taos Pueblo on Tuesday, but it was closed for a special event not open to the public—the tribal members are very private about ritualistic or religious practices. We were glad to see the Pueblo was open to the public on Thursday when we tried again. We got there midmorning and paid our $14 admission.

      The Taos Pueblo is about a mile north of the city and sits at about 7200 feet elevation. The adobe pueblo (Spanish for “village” or ‘town,” but mostly referring to an adobe group of dwellings used by some Southwest native tribes) was built between 800 and 1200 years ago. The Pueblo is backed by the Taos mountains, 

part of the Sange de Cristo range. The tribe owns about 100,000 acres, but only about 20 families actually live in the pueblo and about 1000 tribe members live in the area. The Taos Pueblo is one of those rare places that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a National Heritage Landmark. One of the main buildings on the site is San Geronimo or St. Jerome Chapel, 

which was built in 1850 on the site of an earlier church destroyed in 1847.

 The Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the US. 

     We arrived just in time for a tour guided by a young (college age) native girl whose family owns one of the adobe dwellings. 

Our guide was very good: concise information and histories, good answers to questions, concern for the tourists (about 25 of us). The tour, lasting about an hour, was free, but most guests tipped $5 to $10. We then wandered around the compound looking for photos of the pueblo while trying to be careful not to include residents (or too many tourists). 

The rule is to always get permission before taking a photo of a native—although I accidentally got one in a couple of photos. 

 

    We thought our tour was great, the villagers were friendly, the buildings lovely, and the experience amazing. Not everyone felt the same way, though. One well-to-do lady kept asking questions that had already been answered. At one point she asked a quite inappropriate personal question of the guide who responded with an appropriate, if not quite so gentle, response. The lady “hurrumphed” and I noticed later didn’t leave a tip. That’s okay, we thought her response was brilliant and left a larger tip. Tourist O, Taos Guide 1. 

     ENCHANTED CIRCLE DRIVE 

     This high road starts in Taos, circles to the east, and comes back to Taos. We chose to drive the circle clockwise, though locals say either way is good depending upon weather. Starting out of town on Hwy 64 we soon turned onto State 512 through Arroyo Hondo. 

The scenery was lovely with mostly yellow fall tones—cottonwoods and aspens. At Questa (elevation 7481 feet) we turned onto Hwy 38 toward Red River at 8400 feet. 

Mountain goats by the roadside.

On this stretch we found not only fall colors, but rocky cliffs as well. Some of my photos reminded me of those taken by Ansel Adams in Yosemite, although on a much less grand scale and not of that quality. 

On second thought, mine don’t compare at all to Adams’ photos, I don’t know why I mentioned it. 

    At Red River we stopped to find lunch or a snack. The only restaurant near where we parked in the construction filled downtown had strange sandwiches, none very appealing—we walked out. We did visit a nice coffee shop and got lattes to go. 

We found a city park where we could park and eat food bars we had with us and drink our lattes. On the way out of town to continue the Enchanted Circle drive we saw some better restaurant choices, but we went on. Got to remember to look at all our options in a new place.                           

    The terrain changed between Red River and Eagle’s Nest. We drove though high mountain meadow or plateau. Views of snow clad mountains were great. 

Old ranch gate on the high plateau.

We pulled into Angel Fire (8460 feet) and half-heartedly tried to find the country club golf course where a friend used to play. Both Angel Fire and Red River are local ski areas. 

Red River ski lift.

 The final stretch—between Angel Fire and Taos—was very different. It was a windy road along the river. Beautiful, but difficult to photograph. The road went though one small village, Shady Brook. The whole trip was fun with great scenery and good photo ops. The entire circle took five hours and is a do again trip. 

     VISITING FAMILY 

     On our last full day in Taos we had plans to visit our unofficial niece who lives in Truchas, NM, a village at about 8500 feet on the High Road between Santa Fe and Taos. We had planned to see them earlier in the trip but the whole family (Jas, Zach, Zea, and Mays) tested positive for Covid. Because of their lifestyle (you’ll understand in a few more lines) we decided to go ahead with the visit masked up and keeping social distance. 

Church in a small village on our way to Truchas.

    

    The drive up from Taos was difficult. It was the second day of bad weather and the 9500 foot summit we had to cross was shrouded in clouds. When we got to their property about a half mile out of the village of Truchas, it was grand to see everyone and to meet Mays (almsot 3)

—he’s sharp and cute. Zea (six) has turned shy and cute. 

The kids are great—happy and well-adjusted due to good parenting and a wonderful life-style. Zach and Jas are almost finished with the cob (adobe) house; windows are ready to go in and the roof is waiting for a spell of dry weather to be put up. 

The family is happy—they will be really happy not having to live in the yurt another winter—and healthy—except for the Covid probably picked up at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. It’s not a lifestyle that fits all, but it works well for them. We help them when and how we can.                     

 

   Jas is the daughter of the debate coaches from Taos HS (Bill and Cat) whom I worked with at Southwest debate camps for about 12 years. We became very good friends and Anne would help take care of Jas while we were teaching and listening to debates. She has become an adopted niece and she and her family part of our family.

NEXT: Final post from Taos and Santa Fe.