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A Land Of Enchantment

Our New Mexican Adventure

Por Adventures Not Vacations

19 de February de 2016

Going South to go north

For many, New Mexico isn’t your typical wintertime destination. However, with two days of skiing from our Mountain Collective passes, Meghan and I decided to book a trip to Taos. We decided on MLK weekend. Even with the holiday, flights to Albuquerque were cheap, and the rental car even cheaper.

We arrived early afternoon on Friday and picked up our rental car, a Hyundai Santa Fe. Fitting, since the first stop on our way to Taos would be in the city of Santa Fe for dinner. We set out from the airport (they call it a sunport) on the hour long drive.

Despite what Breaking Bad would have you believe, New Mexico isn’t just a big hot desert. There was snow on the ground and mountains all around us. That was the first of many surprises.

We stopped at Second Street Brewing in Santa Fe for dinner. We’ve found breweries are a great place to stop on road trips because they usually have good food and they show off the local culture better than most restaurants. That night we got to see a live band and enjoy some New Mexican green chiles.

After Santa Fe, we had another hour and a half to Taos. The drive goes through several reservations and there were a lot of casinos. Once we made it to Taos, we checked in at the historic Hotel La Fonda. It’s an old adobe building with a really classic look. It’s right in the middle of the downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants nearby.

After unpacking the car, we headed out for drinks. We found a brewery nearby and tried a flight of their beers. We noticed a guy being particularly loud, talking to a family of four. He was talking about his job at the ski hill and reading them passages from a book with the teachings of an Indian philosopher. It was strange and entertaining.

After a little while, the family left to go home and we just knew he was going to come to our table next. Sure enough, he did. We talked about many of the same things he was telling the family next to us and he even read some of the same passages from his books. Eventually, his girlfriend came over and tried to get him to leave, but being as drunk as this guy was, he wasn’t having it. He spent the next 20 minutes telling us how terrible his relationship is. Eventually, the bar closed and we all went our separate ways, with him offering us a place to crash if we needed one. Lucky for us, we had a hotel to go back to.

First day on the slopes

Having never been to New Mexico, I was still surprised by the mountains rising out of the desert. We were about 30 minutes away from the ski resort, but the land around us was totally flat. Soon after leaving our hotel however, we found ourselves climbing through a canyon into the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

There were a couple inches of fresh snow and the weather was cold and sunny. It was going to be a great day. We usually spend our first day at a resort checking out the whole mountain, so we know where to focus our time the next day. We casually cruised around the resort noting the best chairs and what looked to be some great hiking only skiing. We took the lift to the top of Kachina peak (highest triple chair in North America) and snapped some pictures. The views were incredible and you could see all the way to Colorado.

After a long day on the slopes, we headed back down the mountain. Our destination was the Taos Mesa brewery for some après ski fun. On the way, we saw a sign for the Rio Grande Gorge bridge (7th highest in the US) and decided to check that out first.

As we approached the bridge, the land looked like flat open desert, but as we got closer you could see a huge gash in the earth. A miniature grand canyon had appeared out of nowhere. We parked near the bridge and walked out on it. The view was breathtaking. Little did we know that the next day we’d find ourselves at the bottom of that same canyon.

A little extra work is worth it

After a great first day of cruising groomers and shredding the lift accessed terrain, we wanted to try out some of the runs that Taos is really famous for. They have a ton of hiking only skiing that’s just a short walk from the top of many lifts. Until recently, this was the only way to access Kachina Peak.

For the locals, the hike is a short walk across a ridge. For lowlanders like us, it was a bit more taxing, but definitely worth it. There were great views and even some good wind loaded snow, days after the last real storm.

We took a late lunch and watched the end of what would, unfortunately, be the last Seahawks game of the season. There were a couple of other fans from Seattle in the lodge and we cheered along with them. Luckily, there was more skiing to do and we soon headed back out to the slopes for our last few hours of skiing in New Mexico.

Below the bridge

After our second long day of skiing, we headed back to Taos Mesa Brewing to plan our final day of adventure. The bar was busy with people watching NFL playoff games and we found a seat at a table with another couple. We exchanged small talk and they told us they had just come from some hot springs that were nearby. We asked more and they told us about some easy to access natural hot springs along the Rio Grande river. It was an intriguing idea.

It was around 5 pm and the sun was going down. We lamented our lack of flashlights and towels and left the brewery planning on heading back to our hotel. As we got in the car, we decided to just go for it. We found directions to the Manby Hot Springs and hoped our phone’s batteries would hold out while we used them as flashlights.

We made it to the parking lot with a little light and made the short hike down into the canyon we stood above the day before. There were other people in the springs, but they weren’t crowded. We met a guy on vacation who lived in Alaska and a couple on a three week road trip from Chicago after they both lost their jobs. It was a great end to our time in Taos.

Ancient Cliff Dwellings

Our flight didn’t leave until late in the day, so we had lots of time to get from Taos to the airport in Albuquerque. We decided to make a short day trip to the Bandelier National Monument. We arrived early and had the place mostly to ourselves. We only saw a couple other people while we were there.

The monument is in Frijoles canyon, carved by one of the tributaries to the Rio Grande. It was the home to hundreds of ancient Pueblo people almost one thousand years ago.

There is a short loop trail at the monument that goes through many of the old dwellings. There are some on the canyon floor and many more up in the cliffs. The rock there is compressed volcanic ash from an ancient eruption. Water formed natural holes and caves that were carved out for people to live in. One of the houses required climbing up several ladders 140 feet onto the canyon wall.