More Questa

Fall

It feels like fall here in New Mexico's mountains. The RV Park has emptied out and very few people on the trails.

 

Questa has been a great stopping off point. The town looks like it has seen its better days on the surface. The Molybdenum Mine closed down. Many people walked away from their homes to build a new life. You have to take a closer look to find the businesses. Once you walk inside, there are some great places and people. The contractors that are reclaiming the mine make up for some of the lost business. Chevron has purchased a large portion of the land overlooking the town. Hopefully, they plan to make an open space. 

Pescado Trail

 

One of the less-traveled paths in the Rio Grande del Norte is the Pescado Trail that connects the Red River Fish Hatchery with the Wild Rivers Visitor Center. This trail gains about 800 feet the first mile and is considered a moderate trail.

We started at the Red River Fish Hatchery. I prefer uphill first and it is a short 3 miles up the road.

\Once we arrived at the rim, it was a nice easy walk with great views. We continued on to make our hike a little longer stopping at the visitors center for a snack.

I walked right over to the edge and looked down after taking this picture. What is wrong with me?

 

The elk came out into the field behind us in the morning and evening a few times. One night, we could hear the elk bugling. It is September. Later, the bobcat started snarling as he walked along the pond next to us. No, we didn't try to see him. I google the sound to see if we were right. I thought about playing the sound next to the window and see what he would do. That just seemed wrong.

We found two groups of bighorn along the Arroyo Hondo River that were nice enough to pose for us on the way to Taos.

St Anthony Church 

 

  It took five years and the devotion and effort of the people to repair a divide in the community and resurrect St. Anthony’s Church. In 2008, the 170-year old walls of St. Anthony’s Church in Questa collapsed. This created a divide in the community, those who felt it wasn’t worth saving and those who felt it was worth saving.
Demolishing the church was not an option for a group of volunteers who began the project to save the Church. After the restoration started, it became apparent, to all of the people of Questa, that the importance of keeping the structure was about more than adobe bricks. It began to attract more and more volunteers, lessening the divide and re-connecting the community.

 

 

Funky homes on our drive in the national forest.

The caboose house

Our morning view

We found some roasted Hatch green chile!

The people we meet along the way make each experience even more special. The neighbors came to enjoy Taos's music festival. They planned to return half way through the day to check on their dog. We offered to dog sit Cassie so they would not have to drive the 40 mile round trip. He marched out with the keys and said thanks. They were so happy. Six month old Cassie reminded us why we don't have a dog. She has more energy than grandkids. We did enjoy spending the afternoon with her.

 

We also met Gregory, a photographer, who has some amazing pictures. Every time we saw him, his camera was in his hands and a story to tell. Check out his pictures at God's Country Gallery .

The two weeks flew by. We need to return to northern New Mexico in the future to visit Ville Vidal, Chama and the Bisti Wilderness Area which are still on the "list".

 

Questa, New Mexico

Hidden part of Enchanted Circle

 

Mike booked an RV campground in Questa, New Mexico between Red River and Taos that was very affordable and would be a great base for sightseeing for two weeks. As far as I could see, it was in the middle of nowhere. I kept thinking that I could endure a place for two weeks if we needed to but why? We will keep the fact that he was right or just lucky between us.

We passed through a quiet Red River in the middle of the week as summer is winding down. The temperatures were in the 70s in the day and 40s at night. Perfect weather!

Wild Rivers

The Rio Grande del Norte National  was a designated proclamation by President Obama in 2013 and a well kept secret. Questa is the gateway to the Wild Rivers section. We weren't sure what to expect but if it was crowds, they weren't here.

The Rí­o Grande del Norte National Monument is comprised of rugged, wide open plains at an average elevation of 7,000 feet, dotted by volcanic cones, and cut by steep canyons with rivers tucked away in their depths.  The Ri­o Grande carves an 800 foot deep gorge through layers of volcanic basalt flows and ash.  Among the volcanic cones in the Monument, Ute Mountain is the highest, reaching to 10,093 feet.

 

All of the hiking trails are down to the rivers and back up.

Going down

 

One mile down and one up.

We found plenty of wild life.

 

 

The USFS campgrounds sat along the rim of the canyon. Probably, not a good choice for sleep walkers. For a price of $7 a night ($3.50) with senior pass, a sleep walker could bungee himself in.

The Red River and Rio Grande merge at La Junta Point

 The bike ride through the park was great as long as we got an early start before the afternoon storms would kick in. Our biggest hazard was not motor vehicles. We only saw 2 cars. It was the bighorn sheep herd that ran out of the bushes or the afternoon lightening. We managed to avoid a run in with both.

Lunch at Tias in Cerro was recommended by the park host. Who are we to argue?

Our New Mexico comida was A+.

Columbine Trail

The trailhead is located at the Columbine Campground and can be made as difficult as a person could want by going over the mountain to Taos Ski area.

 "Take a llama to lunch hike" only $125 per person and$75 per child under 12 including a gourmet lunch. Seems like a deal? The kids leading their llamas looked very proud heading out on their hike as we met them on our way back.

The forest service had four bridges for us to cross Columbine Creek in the first 2 miles..

Fall is in the air.

Looks like we are going to have to work for it with no more bridges as we traveled farther up the gorge.

 

We were here for two weeks and have more to come.