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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
