The High Road to Taos, The Rio Grande River Gorge and the Enchanted Circle

On Monday we had a beautiful day to explore the area north of Santa Fe around Taos.  We started up the High Road to Taos stopping at Chimayo to visit El Santuario de Chimayo known locally as “Little Lourdes,” a site considered holy by many area residents. Every Good Friday, as many as 30,000 worshippers, make a walking pilgrimage here to celebrate the Easter season.

Next stop was the Ortega Weaving Compound that sells traditional Navaho weavings made in the homes of the local weavers.  I had visited here on my last trip to Santa Fe and Taos but did not purchase a weaving.  I kept trying to picture them in my New England home and I already had the two that my mother had purchased in the 1930’s.  One already graced her piano and another a side table.  Yesterday, I decided I wanted one on my wall, so we now have a Navaho Tree of Life hanging.

View on the High Road to Taos

El Santuario de Chimayo (1813-1816)

         We continued to the US Park Service Rio Grande Visitor Center.  While talking with a Ranger about the Gorge Bridge, he told us about a back way to reach the bridge if we did not mind the 14 mile back road that included two miles of rough gravel road. Feeling brave with our new Rav4 we headed down the road along the Rio Grande past several basic campgrounds and over a little bridge across the river. There the road changed to washboard with lots of bumps and holes.  From there it was a two-mile climb with many hairpin turns and switchbacks up the Gorge cliff. 

The Rio Grande River 

The Road cut into the Gorge

Still climbing

One of the Hairpin turns

  

We felt a sense of achievement and relief when we reached the top. At the top we met a hiker who had just hiked 8 miles on the plateau without hearing or seeing any rattle snakes.  On an earlier hike he had seen a number of big horned sheep.   We continued along the plateau across an Indian Reservation to the Gorge Bridge.  After the gorge climb the bridge, the 7^th highest in the US, was anticlimactic.  We zipped across it with no fear.

A Dust Devil on the Plateau

The Gorge Bridge

The River from afar

          We continued our drive to Questa on the “Enchanted Circle.”  The scenery was totally different as we drove through the mountains up to over 11,000 feet. We saw lots of signs warning of falling rocks, elk and big-horned sheep in the road but saw none.

In the ski resort of Red River, we stopped for a sandwich at a local restaurant with “Reubens” as their specialty.  We indulged in one and it was fantastic.  We continued on this route with its constantly changing scenery toward Santa Fe and our snug little B & B.

Falling Rock Zone

Farm Land along the "Enchanted Circle"