Mountains and aspens in New Mexico

 We woke up this morning to fog covered streets in Taos, NM so we took our time getting started. By the time we rode out of the city of Taos, the fog and clouds were clearing.

We decided to ride some out-and-back routes into the mountains, hopefully avoiding long delays for road construction that we encountered yesterday. We first rode to the Taos Ski Valley, founded in the early 1950's by Swiss skiing pioneer Ernie Blake and his family. It's mid-September, so no snow yet, but we kept spotting stands of aspens turning bright gold.

NM 150 curves and twists through canyons about 15 miles from Taos to the ski area, making for a fun and beautiful morning ride.

Back in Taos, we rode north on NM 522, a straight road with long roller-coaster hills with long views toward the mountains. This section is part of the New Mexico Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway and the Old Spanish Trail northern route.

The Old Spanish Trail was a trade route connecting Taos, Sante Fe, and other northern New Mexico towns with southern California. The area was explored by the Spanish in the late 1500's, and then used by traders until the 1850's. It's a lot of fun on a motorcycle, and we can't imagine covering this high alpine, dry area on horseback.

We turned east in Questa on NM 38 toward Red River, once more winding and curving through the mountains. 

Instead of continuing southeast and circling back to Taos on US 64 since we rode much of that route yesterday, we turned around at Red River, originally founded as a mining town and today home to a small ski area and lots of outdoor activities.

 As happens to us frequently on motorcycle trips, it was too early for lunch when we got back into Taos, and the 2 hour ride home offers no places to stop and eat. We settled for an energy bar and a bottle of water from a gas station and headed home on US 64 north. We crossed the Rio Grande River gorge, and then stopped at the beautiful rest area on the north side of the river.

The bridge was built in the 1960's and at 650' above the river, it's the second highest bridge on the US highway system (the highest is 700' over the Glade Creek in West Virginia) and the 5th highest bridge in the United States. This area is also part of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. We walked a short way from the rest area to look out over the gorge and the river below.

We were glad it was sunny with just a few clouds as a colder Fall wind picked up as we continued north on US 64 toward home. This is a very low traffic road that climbs over 10,000' in the Sangre de Cristos range of the Rocky Mountains. 

As we continued toward Chama, NM we had wonderful views of the Brazos Cliffs that tower over 11,000'.

Chama is only about 25 miles south of our home in southwestern Colorado, and as we got closer to home I was able to take a photo of the view we see from our windows: V Rock, Navajo Peaks and Banded Peaks.

We enjoy long motorcycle trips where the days develop a rhythm and we see something new around every turn, and yet these short, 2-day trips near home give us a welcome break from work and daily life plus the opportunity to experience more of the area where we live. We're already planning our next trip!

2-day trip into New Mexico

 We're on our first day of a quick, 2-day trip into New Mexico. We live only 2 miles north of New Mexico in southwestern Colorado, and decided to ride through the mountains in the Taos area, hoping to see some aspens starting to change colors.

Most of the trip we rode on US 64 heading southeast through the mountains, topping off at over 10,000' elevation where we saw our first aspens changing into their Fall, bright cold colors.

This is such a fun ride - twisting, winding, climbing 2-lane paved highway with almost no traffic. We rode through the Kit Carson National Forest which covers 1.5 million acres in northern New Mexico with parts of the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains and the San Juan Basin.

US 64 goes past the Taos Earthships, 600 acres of off-the-grid homes built into the earth that use solar, wind, recycled water, old tires, car batteries, glass bottles, and every type of technology available.

There is a circular route in the Taos area that winds through the Sangre de Cristo mountains, part of the Rocky Mountain range. We planned to ride part of the route each day, and today rode on US 64 East into Angel Fire, catching glimpses of colorful aspens along the way.

We stopped in Angel Fire, a small town at the base of a ski area east of Taos, for lunch and then continued south on NM 434 through a beautiful valley. Riding at about 8500' elevation, the mountains around us don't look very tall, but they're all over 10,000'.

The skies were cloudy and threatening rain all day, and as soon as we turned northwest onto NM 518 toward Taos, we stopped to put on rain gear. It was a great decision because about 5 minutes later it started to rain, and rained the next hour until we got to our hotel in Taos. The temperature dropped to 48 degrees at the highest elevation but we were prepared.

Tomorrow we'll ride through more of the mountains in the Taos area before we head north and back home. The weather is promising sunny skies - a perfect motorcycle day.

Twisties and an unexpected trip through Colorado

Day 2 of our cross-country motorcycle trip started in Farmington, NM. We left at 6:45am to beat the heat and the potential rain/hail - and neither one happened. We stopped to put on the warmer jacket liners as the temperature dropped down from 68 to 65 degrees, and then it kept on dropping to a low of 51 at one point.

We rode east from Farmington on U.S. 64 east, climbing a high plateau. There was very little traffic, but we saw plenty of cattle - some right next to or even in the middle of the highway - and deer.

When we started in the morning Mike reminded me that U.S. 64 twists and turns quite a bit, and it would be easy to miss a turn. In Chama, we missed our turn and instead of continuing east on U.S. 64 we headed northeast on what turned out to be Colorado 17. It was an absolutely beautiful ride, climbing through two passes in the San Juan Mountains that topped out at over 10,000':  Cumbres Pass and La Manga Pass.

When we saw the sign that we were entering Colorado, we knew we had missed a turn. The scenery was so gorgeous and the twisties and hairpin turns so much fun that we kept heading east until we reached the intersection of U.S. 285 South where we stopped to double check the map and a photo opp with the engine of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a narrow gauge RR line constructed in 1881 to support mining.

After a quick ride on U.S. 285 South we turned east again on U.S. 64 toward Taos, riding through wide-open valleys with distant views of the mountains.

U.S. 64 winds directly through Taos, colonized in 1615 by the Spanish and today a quirky tourist town in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

We continued east on U.S. 64, part of the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway roads that are made for a BMW motorcycle.

We saw numerous signs for the Philmont Scout Ranch, 214 square miles of high adventure training for Boy Scouts that started operating in 1938. Unfortunately, the Morris Creek Fire started in this area the end of June, destroying over 1600 acres and leaving the danger of flooding and mudslides in its path.

We also rode by signs for the EX UU Ranch, established in 1848 and today the largest private ranch in the country with over 180,000 acres.

The scope and expanse of the wild countryside in this part of northern New Mexico is hard to wrap my mind around. We rode for miles without seeing any signs of humans except for the paved road we followed, reveling in the quiet landscape.

We turned onto NM 21 in Cimarron, then east onto U.S. 56 in Springer, riding the final 85 miles through wide open prairies.

We're spending the night in Clayton, NM, a town of about 3000 people established as a water stop for the railroad in the 1880's and today the county seat. President Teddy Roosevelt passed through Clayton in 1905, thanking the local men who volunteered in his regiment. The Hotel Eklund was built in 1898, and our third story was added in 1905.

We ended our day with a walk for Mike and run for me through the town followed by dinner in the historic saloon of the Hotel Eklund, where we saw the bullet holes in the ceiling above the bar that were fired by an enthusiastic customer when the telegraph operator brought news that Warren Harding was elected president.

We rode 397 miles today, and the odometer on the BMW that we purchased the end of March rolled over to 3000 miles. Stay tuned for where we'll be when the odometer rolls over to 4000 miles! Tomorrow we continue east, riding through 3 new states:  Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.  Here is the route we have taken so far