Hello Everyone! It’s been a wildlife viewing week out here on the roads of Northern New Mexico. I’ve seen eagles and hawks in the air, deer, bighorn sheep and pronghorns in the fields and lots of prairie dogs running around searching for their underground tunnels. I like seeing wildlife. These animals make me smile. I’ve actually done a lot of smiling this week as I’ve found myself in wild places surrounded by beautiful landscapes and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. I’ve managed to keep most of the demons in my head at bay this week and have felt pretty good all around. The weather has generally been great this week as well which hasn’t hurt. Warm, sunny days and cool, pleasant nights work really well for me. I do find that I need to change from shorts to long pants very soon after the sun goes down – it doesn’t take long to cool down in this dry air. It’s hard to believe I’ve been in New Mexico for over a month at this point, but I’m starting to make plans for the final stretch of my time here and then I’m off to Arizona for the rest of my winter/spring. My month in New Mexico has been special and memorable and I definitely understand why they call it The Land of Enchantment.
When I left you last week, I was in tiny Clayton, New Mexico in the far northeast of the state. I did head out to Clayton Lake State Park that evening which has a fascinating “pad” of over 200 dinosaur footprints from when the area was the muddy shoreline of a vast inland sea. Some of the footprints were very pronounced in the evening light and while it was very windy out there it was still really cool to see. I decided to spend the night at one of the campgrounds by the lake and ended up having the whole place to myself which was really nice. It was windy and cold, but I stayed out to watch the sunset and then popped out periodically to check out the stars which were really bright and mesmerizing.
Thursday morning I stuck around my campsite for a bit, enjoying my coffee and the warm sun on my face by the lake. I’ve been rereading the book Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides which essentially tells the history of early American New Mexico. It’s an excellent book, and I’m enjoying it even more now that I’ve been to a lot of the places he writes about. A pair of bald eagles were cruising around the lake while I read which was awesome. Eventually I pulled up stakes and headed back into town to take a few more photos and then got on the road west to Capulin Volcano National Monument. I had noticed on my way out to Clayton Lake the evening before that the landscape was much more volcanic in that part of the state and it became even more pronounced as I went west. I drove past Sierra Grande, which is an incredible example of a shield volcano and then headed towards Capulin which is one of the country’s best specimens of a cinder cone volcano. This volatile and quick-forming volcano (which looks like what you imagine in your head when you think of a volcano) formed sometime around 60,000 years ago. The fertile soil it produced made for some fine grazing land so ranchers have used the land around the volcano for centuries and its distinct and easily recognizable shape made it a landmark on the Santa Fe Trail. Today, you can drive right to the top which is pretty cool but probably not for the faint of heart as there is a pretty severe drop-off and not many guardrails on the road. Once you get up there, though, you are rewarded with remarkable views in all directions and you can hike around the rim and down into the crater. You can look east at the seemingly endless plains stretching to the horizon and west to where they run into the Rocky Mountains. When I left the park, I headed north to Folsom and planned on taking the road over Johnson Mesa to Raton so I could drive past the Folsom Man Site, an archaeological area similar to the Clovis Man Site I talked about last week when I visited the Blackwater Draw museum. Somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up going a half hour down the wrong road but it was a beautiful road and a nice detour. When I finally figured out I had gone astray, I returned to Folsom and found the road I wanted to take. It was poorly marked and when I made the turn, I found it was also closed. Two hours later, I was back at Capulin but thankfully it was only a short drive from there to Raton. Raton is a cute little town on the railroad line with an old theatre and an older train station. I did wander around town a little bit but I was pretty tired and didn’t find out much about it. I stopped in for a great craft beer and one of the best burritos I’ve ever had at the Cellar Brewery (which is actually on the first floor, but they brew the beer in the basement) and then called it a night.
On Friday morning I headed just down the road to the town of Cimarron. Their sign reads “Where the Plains Meet the Mountains” and you can look west from town and see the Rockies emerging from the flat plains. Cimarron is also home to the Philmont Scout Ranch, a massive wilderness area donated by oilman Waite Phillips to the Boy Scouts in 1938. Way back in 1992, I came to Philmont on my very first trip to New Mexico and my first trip anywhere west of the Mississippi. My Boy Scout troop spent 10 days backpacking through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and covered about a hundred miles on foot if my memory serves. It was an amazing experience for a city kid like me and a formative one. The camp is still running strong and welcomes 22,000 hikers each summer to experience the New Mexico wilderness. Sadly, there wasn’t much to see in March beyond the fairly generic National Scouting Museum. It is a privately owned ranch and I guess I was just hoping to go on a short hike or something while I was there, but there didn’t even seem to be anyone working there who I could ask besides the lady in the gift shop. My memories of my trip from 30 years ago will have to suffice for now, but it was nice just to be there.
I went back into town and decided to stop in at the infamous St. James Hotel which was built in 1872. This old stopping point on the Santa Fe Trail is very plain looking outside, but really beautiful inside. The lady at the desk invited me to wander the hallways, telling me they leave the rooms open to look into during the day when they are unoccupied. Located just short of the mountains on the Santa Fe Trail, their guest register was a virtual who’s who of the old west. Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Jesse James, Buffalo Bill Cody, Kit Carson, Annie Oakley, Zane Grey and many others spent time at the St. James in its long and storied history. The front desk had a list of all the gunfights that took place in the saloon and the bullet holes are still there in the tin ceiling. I sat at the bar and had a beer and thankfully no gunfights broke out while I was there. I stopped on my way out of town and picked up a 6-pack at the Blu Dragonfly Brewery and then made my way up Cimarron Canyon and into the mountains. I stopped at several of the state park campgrounds in the canyon, but none of them really beckoned me to stay. I’m glad I kept going because on the other side of the canyon is beautiful Eagle Nest Lake State Park, one of the prettiest spots I’ve seen in a long time. Located in a bowl shaped depression and surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, the campground is right on the edge of the lake which was still frozen while I was there. I turned on some music and popped a beer and enjoyed watching the sun go down and the stars come out. At some point, I decided I liked it so much that I would stay an extra day there by the lake and take a day off from the road.
That’s exactly what I did. I spent all day Saturday sitting in the sun, reading my book and drinking coffee. It was really nice to have a day to take it easy and to not have to drive anywhere or accomplish anything. I did do a little bit of work in the afternoon, but mainly I just relaxed surrounded by the mountains. It was wonderful and I definitely felt better off for it.
I went to bed early on Saturday and woke up before the sun on Sunday. The clouds over the mountains were spectacular while the sun was still low behind the horizon. I enjoyed sitting in my camp as the day began and then packed up, said goodbye to this special place and hit the road. We headed up and over Bobcat Pass which reaches just under 10,000’ and then dropped into the cute little mountain ski town of Red River. I really enjoyed wandering around Red River which had a Colorado mountain town feel to it, but still seemed New Mexico quaint. Granted they have closed the slopes for the year (although there looked to be plenty of snow up there to me), but it was definitely quiet during my visit. I was probably there for a little over an hour, poking around and taking photos, and then went just down the road to Eagle Rock Lake, an unexpected turquoise oasis right off the road. I pulled in and cooked up some breakfast burritos and enjoyed them while reading my book by the lake in the sun. There were a ton of bighorn sheep on one side of the lake and they seemed to really enjoy crossing and re-crossing the road at any opportunity. From there, I headed into the tiny historic town of Questa where I parked and walked over to their stunning San Antonio Catholic Church. The church dates back to the middle of the 19th century, and when the west wall collapsed in 2006 many people thought that was the end of it. The community banded together and 10 years and thousands of man-hours later it was reopened. They did a spectacular job and it is truly special to wander around the interior and see the craftsmanship that went into the rebuild.
From there, I decided to go have a look at Rio Grande del Norte National Monument which is about a half-hour northwest of Questa. I was blown away by this park which is centered around the junction of the Red and Rio Grande Rivers. I started my visit at the Punta or “Point” from which you can see the two river canyons and where they come together. It was quite beautiful and I decided to hike down to get a closer look. It was probably about a 6 mile round-trip hike and I got to walk along the Rio Grande for most of it which was awesome. It was a beautiful, hot, dry, sunny afternoon and everywhere I looked was just spectacular. I made it all the way to the junction and had some time to look around, but the day was waning and I had to start making my way back. I walked back along the river and stopped to dip my feet in the cold water before climbing back up to the canyon rim. I found a nice campsite right along the rim and once again had the entire place to myself. I sat at my picnic table and watched the sun set behind the mountains and had a very quiet night out there.
I woke up in time to watch the sunrise again which was wonderful and then headed down the road to Taos. It was a weird day and a lot of small obstacles popped up as it went along. None of these things would have been a big deal in and of itself, but one after another made for a frustrating afternoon. It seemed like no matter what I tried, I couldn’t win, so eventually I gave up trying and went for a drink instead. Some days are just like that. The Adobe Bar at the historic Taos Inn is often called “The Living Room of Taos” because it’s a place where the locals and tourists meet and mingle and local artists gather to exchange ideas. It is a really neat old place which felt intimate and comfortable and they make their margaritas from scratch and have live music every night. One good margarita and some nive music definitely helped smooth the edges of my day and I started to feel a little bit better. It was dark by that point though, so I decided to put the day behind me and start fresh on Tuesday.
Tuesday was definitely an improvement. I stopped in at one of the local grocery stores there in Taos and picked up some piñon coffee, which I’ve been meaning to try since I got here, and some biscochitos which are the state cookie of New Mexico. The coffee was really delicious – a little bit nutty and somewhat reminiscent of Louisiana coffee with chicory. The cookies are great as well, not too sweet and with a nice hint of cinnamon. I took them to Kit Carson Park and enjoyed them while it started to snow. When the snow let up a little bit, I wandered over to the little cemetery where Kit and his wife and many other members of his family are buried. The cemetery is small and quiet and also has several other prominent historical Taos characters buried there. There is also good signage, which really helps. One lone tombstone sits outside of the cemetery which marks the grave of one of Taos’ biggest scoundrels who seemed to have been universally disliked. Apparently he was found decapitated in his apartment, but the cause of death was recorded as a natural one and it was quickly dismissed and he was buried outside of the cemetery.
Just down the alley is the old Kit Carson house. While Kit was often out on his many adventures, he called Taos home for most of his adult life and his wife raised 7 children in that house. A guide, trapper, trader, scout, soldier and one of the most famous mountain men in American history, Kit Carson was definitely Taos’ most famous resident. His life was a complicated one beginning with the death of his father when he was just a boy in Missouri. His mother apprenticed him to a saddle-maker but he joined a wagon-train west at his first opportunity and never looked back. He was the main guide on John Fremont’s expeditions which mapped the west and opened up the frontier to American settlement. I could fill up pages and pages with his exploits, but there are dozens of books out there which beat me to the punch. When he died, he willed his house to be sold and the proceeds to be divided among his children. The house passed through many hands over the years and eventually fell into serious disrepair. Thankfully the local Masonic Lodge, of which Carson was a founding member, banded together and purchased the property and have done a wonderful job of fixing it up and opening it to the public. It’s a very humble three room adobe house and there are some fascinating artifacts to see there. The gentleman running the place was a wealth of information and I really enjoyed talking with him. He had just received a package in the mail with a shawl which had apparently been purchased by Carson in New York City and I got to watch him open it. Of course stories are just stories and they will need to authenticate it, but it was still a cool moment to be there. I could have talked to him for hours, but his lunch arrived so I said goodbye and headed out.
One of the stories I read while in Taos was how, during the Civil War, Confederate soldiers had taken down the American flag in the Plaza and run their flag up the pole instead. Kit Carson and several of his friends took the plaza back and raised a wooden flagpole with the American flag nailed in place and guarded it day and night until the Confederates left. The flag has flown in the plaza 24/7 since (obviously not the same flag), and I wanted to go check it out. When I got to the Plaza, it started snowing hard. I took a peak at the flag and a few other things around the Plaza and then headed back to my van. Just north of downtown is Orlando’s, a small but well-regarded restaurant which I had eaten at during my last visit to Taos. It was as good as I remembered and I had a truly delightful lunch. Also, the server who took care of me did an excellent job, something which has very much disappeared in the last couple of years. I headed south of town from there to see the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Taos’ most famous church. It is quite beautiful and the sun came out just as I pulled up so that I could get some good photos. My first night in Taos wasn’t great, but yesterday made up for it and I left feeling pretty good about the place. From there I headed down to Española where I tucked into Starbucks for a while to get some work done and then went out to the casino for the night.
This morning I made a quick stop at El Parasol for one of the state’s best regarded breakfast burrito and it definitely was delicious. From there, I headed on back to Santa Fe, where I am now. I’m going to try and get some work done here this afternoon and then take care of some housekeeping tasks like laundry and some grocery shopping this afternoon. And then I’ll see what the big city has to offer this evening.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to go check out the experiential art installation which is Meow Wolf here in Santa Fe. I’ve been hearing about this place for years now and am really looking forward to it. Then I’ll see what time it is and what I have left to see in Santa Fe and maybe stay one more night. From here, I’m off north again to see some small towns, museums and National Park Sites over the next few days on my way back to Albuquerque where I hope to get up in a hot-air balloon before setting off north and west for my final few days in New Mexico before I make my way into Arizona. I have no idea where I’ll be at this time next week, but I sure hope you’ll come back and hear all about it. Have a wonderful week out there, wherever you are, and I’ll see you right back here, same time next week. Thanks for reading.
-Mike