Day 6

Capulin Volcano

We made our way up US 87/64 to NM 456 and Capulin Volcano National Monument. It was still cloudy and we couldn’t see the top of the volcano from the Visitor’s Center. Nevertheless, we bought our Golden Eagle Pass and headed for the top.

This park offers the unusual treat of walking into a volcano. We got out of the car at the top and showed the same amount of disappointment as everyone else—we’re lost in the clouds. However, we trekked up the Crater Rim Trail which is a one-mile trail that encircles the rim of the Volcano. The highest elevation here is 8,182 feet although we’re only 1,000 feet from its base.

As we walked, the clouds kept misting up my glasses, everything was damp—my hair, clothes—everything. The only evidence of wildlife was the removal of bark by porcupines off the pinyon pine, ponderosa pine, and the juniper trees. The trees were coniferous and small. Nothing grew very tall up here.

From the top, three lava flows are visible, each occurring at different periods in time. This volcano marks the end of the geologically active period that began two million years ago. The last eruption here was about 10,000 years ago and there are many more cinder cones in the area as evidence of this activity.

By the time we were making our way to the trail’s end, the Sun was starting to break through the clouds and we could at least see the other side of the rim. We then started on the short trail that went down into the cinder cone. The trail goes into the bottom of the crater where the vent solidified into rock, then broke apart when it cooled. Today, it is just a bunch of boulders where the vent once was. These boulders were light, so much so that even we found the strength to move and pick up these large boulders.

As we left on the road outside the volcano, we could see the top of the cone now with the clouds dissipating. The frequency of these isolated mountains is growing and it won’t be long before we will be in the Rocky Mountains. It was 25 miles till the next town on US 87/64 which was Raton. Got on I-25 south briefly to follow US 64 which was a few exits down. This area is home to the largest NRA center in the US. The Whittington Center is built on 33,000 acres of land and is open for public tours. We didn’t stop.

Cimarron Canyon

The next town was Cimarron, New Mexico, 45 miles away. Cimarron is Spanish for “fugitive” or “wild.” This town has seen some of the West’s best: Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid.

After going through town, we found ourselves in the Cimarron Canyon State Park. This was an unexpected treat. US 64 goes through the canyon and along each side are walls of rock. One wall is so steep they named it the Palisades Sill, rising 600 feet above the canyon floor.

The canyon was cut by the Cimarron River which is one of the best fishing spots in the state. The canyon is about eight miles long and ends overlooking a breathtaking valley of green grass, surrounding pine-covered mountains and the Eagle Nest Lake. This is a large lake that the tiny town of Eagle Nest uses for fishing and recreation.

We went to the tourist office here and talked to an older woman who greeted us and began spewing knowledge about the town. She seemed to really enjoy what she was doing and loved the area. According to the paper I picked up, we just missed the Cowboy New Year Rodeo and the Saddle-Sore Slumber Party, oh well.

Enchanted Circle

We continued on through Eagle Nest and turned north on NM 38, part of the “Enchanted Circle,” an 85-mile road encircling Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in the state at 13,160 feet. This circle is in the Carson National Forest and most of the towns along the way are ski resort towns. The next town after passing through the 9,000-foot Bobcat Pass is Red River.

All of these towns survive primarily on tourism, especially winter sports. Next is the town of Questa at the junction of NM 522. This town was settled in the 1840s and named for the Spanish word meaning “hill,” although spelled in an Anglican way. These towns were really beautiful, clean, and crisp looking. Traveling south on NM 522 we passed through the towns of Lama, San Cristobal, Arroyo Hondo, and at the end of the circle is Taos.

Taos

Taos seems to be located at a lower elevation based on the sudden dryness of the land. The literature I picked up describes Taos as “a town where Native Americans, Hispanics, rednecks, hippies, new agers, born agains, developers, environmentalists, Republicans, Democrats, Green party, Yankees, Daughters of the Civil War, espresso drinkers, micro-brewery, wine tasting, Bud slamming, cowboys live side-by-side.” The town was touristy and all the buildings were made of the Spanish or Mexican type architecture with the adobe-looking façades.

Next to the town of Taos is the Taos Pueblo. This is a mud and straw town that has been inhabited for 1,000 years. The Spanish came in the 1600s and the “Gringos” in the western expansion. There is no running water or electricity for the inhabitants of the pueblo and bread is still baked in outdoor adobe ovens.

Santa Clara Pueblo

Out of Taos we were on NM 68 and heading for Santa Fe and a place to camp for the night. We decided to check out this campground near Espanola, New Mexico on the Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation. As we were driving through Espanola on all the street corners were American Indians of all ages selling the Rio Grande Sun to passers-by in their cars.

We have been paralleling the Rio Grande River since Taos, it’s about 25 feet wide up here. Got through Espanola and turned on US 84 then south on NM 30 toward this reservation.

There was a sign telling us that we were now in the Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation and the laws that we are used to no longer apply here. They have their own police enforcing their own laws and their own tribal court to judge you in.

The campsite was eleven miles up this road where the Puye Cliff Dwellings were dug out by the ancient people of the past. These were tiny holes in this mesa wall where the American Indians lived at one point. No pictures allowed on the reservation, so words will have to do. The road we were on was getting thicker with pines and eventually we were out of the desert and into an oasis.

We made it to the checkpoint and it was starting to drizzle. An Indian approached us in a pickup and took the $10 fee from us and told us the campsites were up this dirt road for the next eight miles. By the time we had gotten to our site, the drizzle had stopped so we started setting up fast because it still looked like rain and we could hear thunder beyond the canyon walls. We could not see in the distance because we were in a canyon surrounded by sheer walls of rock.

There was a nice babbling brook running along the site and cliffs all around, a spectacular site. This was a nice campground because we could not see anyone else, someone would drive by once in a while but otherwise we were isolated. Although we got everything set up just before the storm made it over the canyon cliff, we weren’t going to be able to cook tonight.