Enchanted in New Mexico (#32)

Emory Pass - Gila National Forest

I have passed through New Mexico several times, but never really lingered.  My last visit I decided next time we would return to really explore this diverse state. In June we spent two weeks making a loop from Austin  to Las Vegas, Nevada and spent several amazing days here. We were truly enchanted and hope we will get the opportunity to return soon.

We entered New Mexico briefly the first day of our trip to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the southwest corner of the state. Considered one of the largest cave systems in the world, most of it has not been invaded by man and only a small fraction is open to the general public . We arrived at the park early and took a 9.5 Walnut Canyon Scenic Loop that was anything but scenic.  We also attempted to take one of the trails along the loop for a view of the canyon, but after more than one ascending mile and 100º temperature, we gave up and returned to our air conditioned vehicle (what in the world was I thinking?)

Self Guided Walking Tour

We love underground exploration, so we chose to add the 1.5 hour ranger-guided Kings Palace Tour to our general admission ticket that allowed us to descend more than 800 feet via the elevator to the underground lunchroom and rest area. Ranger guided tour tickets can be prepurchased on line (highly recommended), nothing worse than to get here and wait or find them sold out. However, as a word of caution, we reserved the last tour (3pm) on Saturday and ended up with 50 other people! I think they may have allowed more people because it was the last of the day-I recommend calling to check about their policy.  We arrived at the visitor center with what I thought was plenty of time to take the 1 mile self guided Big Room Tour, but with all the stopping, oohing and ahhing it took us every bit of the 1.5 hours they recommended. This incredible cave is not the most beautiful we have ever visited, but it harbors the entire range of formations found in caves and here they are of colossal size.

After a short wander back into west Texas we entered New Mexico again just north of El Paso. One of my new goals is to visit a microbrewery in every state I visit, so our New Mexico stop was Las Cruces (of Billy the Kid fame), for a sampler at High Desert Brewing Company.  I loved the presentation of the four samples in little mugs and loved the American Pale Ale so much that it called for a pint. Hubby enjoyed their homemade root beer. We followed the recommendation of my fellow Yelpers and ordered a couple appetizers to hold us over till we found a place to camp for the night. We chose the "small" nacho with ground beef and beer battered mushrooms. When they arrived they were HUGE-so we called them dinner. The nachos in particular were heaped on what looked like at least a 10 inch pizza tin and the mushrooms filled a burger basket.

We headed north up I-25 and found a wonderful campsite along the Rio Grande River at Caballo State Park in their Riverside Campground.  The next morning we turned west onto State Highway 152 toward Gila Cliffs National Monument following sections of two outstanding New Mexico's Scenic Byways: Geronimo Trail and Trail of the Mountain Spirits.

Downtown Hillsboro

We spent the morning exploring two great old mining (semi) ghost towns-Hillsboro and Kingston. Hillsboro had a super cute and colorful downtown district and on the hill overlooking town we discover the Miller House- an 1898 Victorian cottage constructed of black slag block made from smelter waste. As we drove into Kingston, it was hard to believe this was once a bustling boom town in the late 1800s that had 23 saloons, a brewery and three newspapers. That was until we saw the beautiful old Percha Bank (1884)-now a museum it is one of only a small handful of surviving buildings. As we left town we caught sight of the Kingston Cemetery and stopped. As we walked around a very stark cemetery we happened upon Congressional Medal of Honor recipient James McNally, who served for more than 30 year in the mid 1800s.

Kingston Cemetery

Shortly after leaving Kingston we climbed into the beautiful Black Range and stopped at the not-to-be missed Emory Pass Vista Overlook. The Gila National Forest was a land of incredibly tall pines and one scenic vista after another. We turned northwesterly onto State Highway 35 and made our way to Gila Cliffs National Monument.  This is one place where the 20 minute video at the Visitor Center is a great place to begin your visit.  We could not do the entire one mile loop due to recent fires, but we were able to go into the dwellings and back out the same way.  The 175 ft climb up into the dwellings was relatively easy considering we were at 5,700 ft elevation. We were also surprised at how relatively few people were in the park. A guide stationed in the dwellings gave us and another couple a great tour and when I commented about how difficult it must have been to raise children, he took us over and showed us an area they theorized was a nursery. There was plenty of free camping in the park proper (Upper & Lower Scorpion), but we opted to head back south on State Highway 15 towards Pinos Altos where we found the incredible Cherry Creek Campground (no fee!).

Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument

Greenstone banding - Aztec Ruins

We headed for Arizona the next day, but we would return one week later to the northwest corner traveling south from Durango, Colorado. Luckily, I spotted Aztec Ruins National Monument on the map. Located between Mesa Verde to the north and Chaco Canyon on the south, the ruins here are what is left of the three story building with more than 500 room ancestral Pueblo people from 1000 to 1200. This complex possesses some unique architectural details such as a double band of greenstone, T-shaped doorways and windows placed in corners at wall junctions.  There is also a rare tri-wall structure built of three concentric walls with 22 rooms encircling a kiva.

Rio de las Vacas Campground

We continued southeasterly on US 550 to Cuba, and turned east onto State Highway 126-the northern leg of the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway-just one of 26 New Mexico Scenic Byways. Shortly before the pavement ended across the mountain pass we found our favorite campsite of the trip at Rio de las Vacas in the Santa Fe National Forest. Soaring pines, paved level parking spots, clean restrooms and super friendly camp host at the bargain rate of $10 a night. At 8300 ft elevation this lofty campsite chased me into my sleeping bag in the middle of the night, but otherwise slept like a baby.

**Warning Soapbox Rant** I have a beef with the US Forest Service-they do not make it easy to find campgrounds on their website.  I can totally understand that they cannot afford to supply everyone with a paper map, but US Forest Campgrounds were super easy  to find on their website a decade ago. Now you have to know the National Forest for that area, then delve deeper in a time consuming search without knowing quite where they are when a decade ago I just clicked campgrounds on a map along the route I knew I was going to take. It seems they intentionally took maps off the website to force us into purchasing them...at an average of $10 per map, it gets to be rather pricey.

Grazing Elk-Valles Cadera

The next morning we headed east across the mountain pass after inquiring how drivable it was with our camp host and was told that we would "probably" make it.  And a slow go it was, but so incredibly beautiful that made us happy we have bravely chosen this route. Shortly after joining State Highway 4 on the eastern side of the mountains, we stopped a Valles Cadera National Preserve where we watched more than one hundred elk grazing in the ancient collapsed caldera. A little further on I took a short 1.5 round-trip trail to Jemez Falls before reaching Bandelier National Monument.

Main Loop Trail-Bandelier

An absolute gem of the National Park Service system, Bandelier National Monument was one of my favorite stops on this trip. This is not a "drive-thru" park by any means.  With only 3 miles of paved road and 70 miles of trails, this park is best experienced on foot. It is also very easy to have a great experience by merely spending most of one day. The best thing about this particular park is you really can imagine what life here was like one thousand years ago. We "borrowed" a guide from the front desk in the beautiful CCC built Visitor Center from 1936 and exited through the back door to the short 1.2 mile Main Loop trail.  Strategically placed concrete and  wooden stairways help you explore the places (nooks and crannies) where the ancestral Pueblo people lived their everyday lives. Make sure to take plenty of water so you can add the one-mile round-trip Alcove House trail. The Alcove House trail requires you to climb a series of wooden ladders (some up to 30 feet) to experience the ceremonial cave. So worth the effort!

**Unfortunately on June 26, 2011, the day after we were here, they were forced to close a part than all of the National Monument. The Las Conchas Fire, which began just west of the park burned well over 140,000 acres (including more than 50% of Bandelier).** 

Santa Ninos Chapel-Chimayo

Our last New Mexico destination was the Enchanted Circle. Several friends who had been to this lovely area all recommended one restaurant in particular-Ranchero de Chimayo located on The High Road to Taos Scenic Byway. The quaint town of Chimayo was impossible to resist before heading to the restaurant. We stopped at El Santuario de Chimayo (1856) and the Shrine of Santa Niño de Atocha,  Unfortunately, we had not planned very well, we had eaten a late lunch and it was too early for dinner when we arrived at the Ranchero, so we enjoyed the their delicious salsa and chips, the specialty house drink made with Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila, Chambord and Apple Cider served in a cinnamon sugared rim glass with an apple slice and split the dessert of the day-Leche de Dulce Cheesecake.We still needed to find a campground tonight and found little information on my smartphone (see my USFS rant).

Taos Junction Campground

Just outside Bandelier, we encountered more fires. We stopped at the White Rock Tourist Information Center and asked for camping recommendations near Taos. The very nice and super helpful lady made calls to make sure campgrounds she was going to suggest were open. She suggested Orilla Verde Recreation Area along the Rio Grande Gorge-a popular rafting area-after we visited Chimayo. We were not impressed with the campsites when we arrived here, but it was turning dusk and now we were getting hungry.  There were several campgrounds along the river and we settled on Tao Junction, the last one in the string.  There are two things I would have done different next time. First we should have headed due north along the Gorge to the high bridge and turned east toward Taos instead to driving back to State Highway 68 the way we went.  Second, I would have timed my camp stays to spend the night at Bandelier or in the Sante Fe National Forest (which was on fire), then head to areas above Taos in the Carson National Forest where we could have camped at up 9300 ft elevation. 

I have a confession...we were ready to head home.  It was a Corn Dance day when we got to Taos Pueblo, and then there was a laundry list of fees: $10 each to enter, $6 for each camera, $6 each cell phone-no pictures allowed of the actual corn dance, but there was still a fee for taking pictures-outside of course, not inside (some of this a completely understand, like inside churches). I certainly did not mind paying an entry fee and paying for one camera fee and leaving one in the car, but cell phones-really?  What did they think I was going to do, blaze  through the Pueblo, camera in one hand, cell in the other snapping pictures at the speed of light?  But wait, this was corn dance day and you cannot take pictures of them dancing. To top it off I was warned by friends, prior to leaving Austin, if they caught you breaking policy they would confiscate your camera and not return it. NO THANKS, lets keep going around the Enchanted Circle and head to Home Sweet Home in Texas. 

Old City Hall-Las Vegas, NM

We do want to come back this way, mostly it was near the end of a long journey. We did three quarters of the Enchanted Circle than headed south on State Highway 434 past Angel Fire, which looked to be a very nice ski area with a green trail from the very top. In Mora we made a left on State Highway 518. We were not going to stop an-y-where, but then there was Las Vegas again! Las Vegas, New Mexico that it :) How fitting, we just had to stop and I am so glad we did. Inhabited since 8000 BC, this charming town has nearly 900 structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places dating back to the mid 1800s.  We visited several different historic districts around town including the downtown plaza and the railroad district with the beautiful train depot and Hotel Castenega next door-one of the Harvey House gems. Stop at the train depot and pick up one of the Historic Las Vegas brochures, before venturing around town.

Visiting Las Vegas, New Mexico redeemed the final leg of our journey...I so want to return here, but the day is over...Texas here we come!