Rio Charma and Ghost Canyon

We were so taken with the Georgia O"Keefe collection in Santa Fe, especially her landscapes, that we decided we needed to see the area for ourselves. We also have fallen in love with it. We pulled into a camp spot on the Abiquiu Reservoir, picked out a site and and paid our $5.00 early in the day as it was a weekend and campgrounds were scarce on the map. We intended to visit Georgia O'Keefe's house in Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch were she spent many summers. The scenery here is breathtaking. Before we did the O'Keefe places we decided to explore a Forest Service Road that the Taos couple had told us about up the Rio Chama River into Ghost Canyon just past Ghost Ranch were she had her house. It was 13 miles long, a one lane, red dirt track up the canyon of the river and one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. The canyon walls are painted in rusts and oranges and mauve and purples with green stripes. The canyon floor is wildflowers and meadow and cottonwood and aspen. Trees alternate on the ridges with the colored walls and other than a ranch going off up a split in the canyon the place is deserted. The contrast in colors and the light is incredible. We went nearly to the end and found a small free campground on the river and could not turn it down. We set up our camp and sat in awe at our surroundings. Steve tried a little fishing, but the river is still high and not yet clear. We camped under a big cottonwood with a scarlet tanager nest. The coyotes were audible but distant during the night and the moon shone half full. Such a magical place. No wind, it was warm, and we slept with all the screens open and got back into our shorts at dawn. This morning we went up the last mile where there is a monastery that has been there for over 40 years. It was still early so we did not snoop around but it is enough to make you want to join just so you could live there. We took a pile of photos and we are disappointed in all of them. They just cannot capture the color and the scale and the sheer grandeur of the place. We have been really taken with Northern New Mexico and find it hard to leave here. We came back out today and it took an hour to travel the 12 miles. We got more ice for our cooler and some more bread and we gave the campground hosts in Abiquiu some song and dance about why we were not here last night before they locked the gates and got another night, but the wind is blowing and I am missing our camp at Rio Chama already. We plan to head to Chaco Canyon tomorrow ... but we may just go back up that canyon and let the 'ghosts' capture us again for a little while longer.

Bandelier

We spent a day at Bandelier National Monument and it was fantastic. The canyon has a stream running through where they grew maize, beans and squash. There are at least 3000 sites in Bandelier but not all were occupied at the same time. Ancient footpaths made for some rugged and tight climbing. There are many dwellings, some with as many as 40 rooms. The "Long House" is an 800 ft stretch of of adjoining multi-storied stone homes with hand carved caves as back rooms. Many of the rooms are reached by pole ladders but you can see on the cliff wall the round openings where poles supported upper floors and roofs. There were also at lot of drawings and some of the rooms showed signs of being painted and decorated. We camped next to some folks from Taos that we had met a day earlier right after they had just bought a Eurovan. We spent a lot of time visiting with them and enjoying their advice on journeys we should take and local camping sites. We hope to see them on the Peninsula this summer when they make a trip to the West. On our way out we saw a brown bear and her cub in the middle of the road, but by the time we grabbed the camera she was on her way over the guardrail.

Rio Bravo Camp

We spent a day driving the High Road and exploring more of the small pueblos to the south and spent another night on the Rio Grande. Thunderstorms came right over us this time but all the strikes were on the canyon rim. It was a very exciting experience to have the updrafts and down drafts as these storms cells went over us. Really kicked up the winds and made us pull the top down for a few hours. Glad that we could cook and eat inside as the gusts made for difficult camping out in the weather.

Taos Pueblo

We spent a few days in the Taos area including a long visit at the Taos Pueblo. It is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. The two main structures are believed to be well over 1000 years old. The buildings are actually many individual homes built side by side with common walls but no common doors. The buildings are made entirely of adobe and there is a restriction of no running water or electricity being allowed. There is the Red Willow Creek running through the compound that they use for drinking water and there are fireplaces and a few wood stoves in some homes and outdoor Horno adobe ovens for baking. About 150 people live within the walls under these restrictions but many more live just outside the walls in more modern but modest adobe homes. Many of the first floor units have been converted to rustic shops were crafts are made and sold. While some places had obvious items that they purchased for resale, we did find some of the especially the older craftsmen that were making the items right in their shop and selling only what they made. We wandered more of the downtown plaza shops and then headed back to our camp on the river. We really like this Northern New Mexico country and culture but the prices are “artistically high” with lots of New York and California wealth and we think the winters would do us in.

Enchanted Circle

The next day we took the highway called the ‘Enchanted Circle’ that went up higher yet (we are already at about 8000 ft) and into the ski resorts and high country. We stopped at the town and ski resort of Angel Fire and found a laundry and it is nice to have clean clothes again. At Eagles Nest we dropped down into Cimarron Canyon to check out a state park there. The cliffs of granite along the canyon were spectacular and worth a stop but the campground was right on the road and noisy. We decided to return a few miles over the pass and back to the Enchanted Circle where there were, according to our map, at least 8 Forest Service camps. The highest pass we went over in this group was 9800ft. And it dropped steeply right down into Red River, a very ritzy ski resort. Every single Forest Service camp we came to over the next 25 miles was closed … or rather not yet open. We are two weeks early for them at this 7000-8000ft level . So we ended up in Taos and found a BLM office and got a map with 5 campgrounds in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area just south of Taos and right on the Rio Grande River. It is perfect. Not only is it a little more sheltered in the canyon from the ever incessant wind but the campsites have shelters, the place is open and sunny and warm, the coyotes howl at night under the stars, and they have showers! The bonus is that my ½ price senior pass makes it only $3.50 a night. Almost feels like stealing. The only drawback is that there is again no cell service.

Coyote Creek

We skirted back south around the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and camped on the east side of the mountains at a nearly deserted State Park called Coyote Creek. It was in a beautiful little valley and the creek had beaver dams and great fishing. It was sunny and warm and we got back into shorts and sandals. Unfortunately Steve did not think to get a license until we got there and we were many miles from any place that sold them so no fish for us.

Santa Fe

We continued on north and into the foothills of the Manzano Mountains Wilderness south and east of Albuquerque for the night. The next day we skirted around on the back roads and countryside through beautiful green valleys and up to Santa Fe. Campgrounds are scarce here and are at a high elevation but we managed to find Black Canyon just about 15 miles from town and up towards the ski resort. It was a Forest Service Camp that had just opened and they did not have the water on yet, but we carry it with us so it was fine. It was cold at this elevation and weather is calling for thunderstorms the next two days so we spent a day in town at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and going in and out of gallery’s to see the high quality arts and crafts that this area produces. We then did a google search for the best tacos in Santa Fe and found a little take- out- only dive where we got shredded beef tacos and pork tamales that we ate at our little table in the van in the parking lot. A very spontaneous and delicious road picnic.