Rio Grande Gorge, New Mexico

September 25, 2022

Rio Grande Gorge.

We left Pagosa Springs on a brilliant clear morning and passed near several hot air balloons that were launching. It's too bad we didn't have time to stop and watch for a while, as there were quite a few yet on the ground ready to launch. But, we wanted to get on to our next destination because the campground we were heading toward was first-come-first serve.

Moving into New Mexico brought completely different scenery. Some areas were reminiscent of Utah.

Oh no--more cows!

The views were best on Rick's side during this stretch.

We were struck by how some of the rock appeared to be shades of purple, lavender, coral and even pink. The photos don't quite capture it, though.

We scored a beautiful campsite inside the Rio Grande Gorge right on the river, not too far from the town of Taos.

Wildflowers were still blooming--right in our campsite!

Monday was a leisurely day (well let's be honest-- most of our days could be considered "leisurely" 😊), consisting of a visit to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge and the "Earthship" housing community. Interestingly, the road we took from our campsite was paved the entire way except for a steep section of switchbacks which wound up the side of the gorge. (That would have been the part we would most have wanted paved.) Perhaps the road is too steep or hard to access to pave it? It was a bit nerve-wracking, but Rick said it wasn't so bad, and the views were great.

  First stop was the very tall bridge that spanned the Rio Grande Gorge. There was a rest stop there where you could park to walk across it.

Not your typical rest stop sign.

They had these crisis hotline boxes along the entire length of the bridge.

We didn't really like looking down from here--it was really high up!

Next stop was a unique housing community of eco-friendly houses called "earthships". Not quite our personal aesthetic, but it was interesting to see how people had created off-grid houses with recycled materials.

The visitor center

It just wasn't "neighborhoody" enough for our liking

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the insides of the buildings.

Not quite sure what to make of this one.

Tuesday brought us to the town of Taos where we visited some old churches, strolled through the historic downtown section, and stopped for lunch at La Cueva Café for authentic Mexican cuisine.

St. Francis of Assisi Church, built in the 1700's

Not much was close to being square, level or plumb in this old building.

Much of the art had a folk-art feel to it.

The church is "re-mudded" every year with mud and hay. Sometimes the hay sprouts.

The quaint town square

Interesting juxtaposition of cultural elements here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church The original 1800s church was replaced in the early 1960s after it burned down.

The Stations of the Cross were all folk-art carvings.

A trip to Los Alamos was Wednesday's activity where we toured the Bradbury Science Museum as well as Bandelier National Monument.  Looks like we didn't end up taking any pictures at the science museum, but it did contain interesting history of the Manhattan Project.

The drive up the mesa to Los Alamos had fantastic scenery.

The visitor center at Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier is known for its Native American ancestral pueblo and cliff dwelling ruins.

Down below you can still see the circular footprint of a large multi-family pueblo.

Thursday brought a hike that was a bit more strenuous than expected (5.7 miles with 1230 feet of climbing).  It started out as a gentle hike along an abandoned road (Slide Rock Trail) that went all the way to the top of the mesa. At the top, we found some trails that connected to another trail (Picuris) which led us back down (in a not-so-gentle manner) to where we started.

In the upper right, you can see the trail ahead of us alongside the cliff.

And on the left, you can see the trail behind us.

Made it to the top of the mesa!

A view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the southern end of the Rocky Mountain range.

Now we have to go back down to the trailhead near the bridge (center of photo).

One of the kinder, gentler sections of the steep downhill trail.

Look around in the photospheres of the trail and scenery

Friday and Saturday were nice rest days with pleasant weather, giving Rick an opportunity to make some bread and do some maintenance on the "contraption" in the bed of the truck (the structure that basically contains all our crap useful tools and such that we lug around the country). It seemed that the contraption had not taken well to all the sketchy, bumpy, rocky, rutted gravel roads we have thus far traversed.  Upon closer inspection, some screws had sheered clean off the part of the structure that was supposed to keep the entire contraption from shifting side to side. No problem--Rick had packed all kinds of crap random lumber scraps in the truck before leaving Cincinnati (held in place by said contraption), so he was prepared!  An extra 2x4 brace across the cap, as well as reinforcing the wall attachment near the back of the truck with some extra wood and a *lot* of extra screws, and we were good to go!

Rick's section for his artsy evening shots . . . 

Julie's artsy sunset shot (not really artsy, she just pointed at the sunset and touched the button on her phone):

And one more random sunset shot of the Sangre de Cristo's:

Next up: Time to head south to Santa Fe . . . 

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