Taos and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument - Earthships, Hot Springs, Rio Grande Gorge, and Great Views
Taos, NM is a popular tourist destination in northern NM in the middle of nowhere, about two hours north of Santa Fe.
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| Just before sunrise behind the Taos Mountains |
Taos is located at the base of the Taos Mountains, part of the larger Sangre de Cristo Range. The area is gorgeous with canyons, mountains, and volcanoes dotting the landscape. I only spent an evening and half a day there, but the small taste that I had has earned it a spot on the list of places that I want to return to. I think the beauty of the area is increased by understanding more about how unique the geology is. This post is chock full of pictures and info because I was in love with everything I saw, and I wanted to attempt to do some justice to the place.
I only went into town for dinner at a brewery that had wood fired pizza after I arrived in the area. As I drove by the main plaza, I saw a lot of people out walking around and visiting the cute shops and galleries lining the streets. Taos is an artsy town with several art galleries and museums - Georgia O'Keeffe famously painted nearby. It also has a lot of wild west history - Kit Carson, famous frontiersman, lived in and is buried in Taos. I never find walking around towns to be a priority during my travels because I am always trying to fit in as much as possible into my trip. While it can be nice to do in certain places, I was not too disappointed to simply do a drive-by of the town.
Taos Pueblo is a Native American community just north of Taos. The Pueblo houses have been continuously lived in for over 1000 years, and it is considered one of the oldest continuously lived in communities in the United States. It was closed to visitors because of COVID when I visited, so I was unable to see the Pueblo homes.
Nearby Carson National Forest includes Wheeler Peak, the highest point in the state at 13,161 feet. I would have hiked this if I had an extra day, and it is on my list for a return trip. The Taos Mountains are also a popular skiing destination.
Earthships
When I was researching ideas for a trip to New Mexico, I discovered the concept of the earthship. An earthship is a house built entirely out of upcycled materials like tires, cans, and bottles that functions entirely off the grid. Michael Reynolds came up with the concept and started building them in the 1970s. There is a whole community of them just outside of Taos, called the Greater World Community, with a visitor's center and nightly rentals, all run by Michael Reynolds' company, Earthship Biotecture.
The inner hippie in me screamed with delight. It was one of the deciding factors for me to choose New Mexico as my destination for my September/October 2021 trip. If I traveled to New Mexico, I could actually stay overnight in an earthship!
Most of my trips are planned last minute (by trip planning standards, it's early by my personal procrastination lifestyle standards), so I had very limited options for staying in an earthship. I did manage to book an authentic one built by Reynolds and hosted by his wife on Airbnb, but it was located a few miles outside of the community. It included a free tour at the visitor's center. I didn't arrive in time to go before it closed. It was a bummer, but I had other things I wanted to see and do that left me with limited time. There was a lot of literature inside the house on earthships that I was able to read to learn about them - plus I was staying overnight in one, so I didn't really miss out on too much by not visiting the community.
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| This is the kitchen area inside my earthship. All of the rooms have indoor gardens built directly into the house. |
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| This is the outside of the earthship. They are all built with south facing windows to let in the heat from the sun. The remaining three sides of the houses are buried underground to remain insulated from extreme temperature changes. |
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| The sun coming up behind the Taos Mountains, lighting up the sagebrush desert, as seen from my earthship driveway |
I woke up early to watch the sunrise behind the mountains from the driveway of the earthship. It was worth waking up early for. I missed the sunset, which I believe would have been even better with the sun shining on the mountains instead of behind them, but this was still great. I even got to see my first road runner! I was staring at it, trying to figure out what kind of weird bird it was in the dawn light. As I took a step toward it to get a better look, it ran away like it was shot out of a canon. I can only assume it was a roadrunner; however, I can not be positive about the identification because it did not "meep meep" at me.
Rio Grande del Norte National Monument
This whole region of public land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which I found confusing because it's a designated National Monument, but it is not run by the National Park System like most National Monuments. Apparently, National Monuments can be run by other agencies. Much of the Rio Grande Gorge is within the monument along with some larger sections next to the gorge with several old volcanic cones.
This is a really cool and unique geologic area due to the Rio Grande Rift where the Earth's crust is stretching apart. Valleys form where the crust stretches. Rivers tend to follow these rift valleys. The Rio Grande Gorge is where the river, following the rift zone, has carved out volcanic rock and ash layers.
In some areas in the rift zone, magma bubbles up through the crust, causing volcanoes in the area. The old volcanoes in the area are from when the zone was much more active than it is today, several million years ago.
Another characteristic are long mountain ranges that run along the edges of the rift zones where the crust rises from heat bubbling up. The mountains formed here are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The geology is really cool, and understanding it, at least somewhat, makes the landforms more amazing to look at - especially coming from western PA where the geologic processes that formed the landscape are essentially the exact opposite of those in New Mexico. You can find out information about rift zones and the Rio Grande Rift on several geology and university websites.
Black Rock Hot Springs
This was my second hot spring and ended up being one of my favorite things I did on my trip. I loved everything - the hike there, the views, the springs themselves. Although, getting there was more of a hassle than I thought.
There are two ways to get to the springs - from the east side of the gorge and from the west side. I did my research ahead of time; everything said to go from the east side. That was my game plan.
What did I do? I went to the west side of the gorge! I will blame it on a combination of jet lag and confusion from the high altitude (that's a thing, right???) rather than stupidity. I have a degree in geography, so I should be overqualified for the simple task of determining the difference between east and west (right???). Apparently not.
I drove over some terrible dirt roads. Keep in mind that I had a rental car. I scoffed at the rental car guy when he tried to convince me to go with an SUV because I told him I was going to visit various parks. The back roads in New Mexico are notoriously poorly maintained, some requiring high clearance vehicles. I insisted on the car because it was cheaper, and I'd just turn around if it got bad.
It must have taken me close to 30 minutes to go a few miles, driving 5mph on different dirt roads, praying stones would not jump up and damage the car. There was nothing around, just a vast sagebrush desert. The views of the mountains were better than I saw anywhere else in the area though!
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| Gorgeous mountain views along my back road experience - normally I think people who take pictures in the middle of roads are asking to be run over, but I made an exception for myself here for obvious reasons |
I got to the sign for the gorge access road. I had made it!
I had not made it.
I started along the bumpy access road down the gorge until I got to a sign that told me the road was washed out and closed. Back up I went to a large dirt parking area at the top of the gorge rim, with the only other vehicle being a small camper at the back of the lot. I had to hike down the road about 3/4 of a mile to get to the start of the trail. As I got further down into the gorge, I saw a nice road that went all the way down to the bottom of the gorge on the other side with cars parked at the bottom. All I could think about was that I would have to hike all the way back up out of a deep gorge when I could have drove the whole way down if I had come from the other side. I did have absolutely amazing views of the mountains and the gorge during the hike, which I would not have seen from the other side, so I wasn't that upset.
I got to the start of the trail from the road to the hot springs. The trail goes half a mile back from the road and is rather rocky. It was a fun hike up, over, and down the neat black volcanic rocks.
The springs consist of just two rock pools. They are located deep down in the bottom of the gorge beside the Rio Grande and are aptly named for the black volcanic rock surrounding them. The views are stunning! I spent a lot longer relaxing in both pools at the hot springs than I had intended because of how scenic and relaxing they were. The temperature of Black Rock Hot Springs are warmer than a hot bath but a little cooler than a hot tub - so basically perfect to relax in.
There was a group of early 20-somethings that would jump into the ice cold river and then run back into the hot springs. I waded up to my thighs into the river, wussed out, and went back to the hot springs.
This is also a traditional backcountry clothing optional hot spring. I think people unfamiliar with this concept think of these people as wild naked weirdos, but in my experience, they are typically modest and respectful of others, slipping out of robes at the same time as they gracefully slide into the pools. I don't think I'd ever do this, especially at a popular spring such as this one, but apparently the whole point is to be free and connected to nature, something I can somewhat understand. While I have only been to two natural hot springs, making me anything but an expert on the topic, and yes, some of those wild naked weirdos do exist, the general consensus from people I have met in my travels as well as from my own experience is that they are normal people who try to make it as far from weird as they possibly can.
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| The view looking down river at Black Rock Hot Springs |
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| My best selfie I took in the hot spring |
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| The view looking up river from the springs |
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| Looking up at the west rim of the gorge from the hot springs - special appearance by my foot |
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| This big, fat, nice pupper found his own little pool! |
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| This was taken from the trail to and from the hot springs looking back up the Rio Grande. Looking at the left side gives a good idea of the hike back out of the gorge to the top of the rim. |
I hiked back up, up, up the rim of the gorge, stopping to catch my breath occasionally and take some pictures of the amazing views from the gorge. At this point, I realized that I had finally acclimated to the elevation. I was worried that it would be a lot harder of a hike than what it actually was. I had heard that it was a good place to see bighorn sheep and pronghorn, but sadly I did not see any wildlife.
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| I stopped on the way up for a photoshoot using my new travel tripod. The views of the Taos mountains on the other side of the gorge made my trek down and up the wrong side better than I expected. |
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| I believe this pose says, "I had to hike all the way up from all the way down there." |
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| Oh, look at that nice road going down to the bottom! Look at the mountains in the background behind the gorge though! I traded an easy hike for a harder one with good views. |
Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
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| This is the view of the bridge from the parking area on the west end. |
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| I am smiling here, but I am actually horrified while standing on one of the bump outs along the bridge deck. |
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| This is what you see looking straight down. I believe I took this picture without actually looking down. |
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| The bridge provides gorgeous views right down the middle of the gorge. |
After my quick bridge stop, I realized I had spent way more time than I had anticipated in the area (thank you extra long west rim excursion). I needed to be all the way down in Texas for the night. Off I went, leaving the Taos region behind, vowing to return again one day.
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