Taos & The Enchanted Circle, NM

Less than 24 hours after returning to Albuquerque from Maui, we had all clean laundry and a restocked fridge and were heading north to get a first come-first served campsite at the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument for the week.

This National Monument has several small campgrounds inside the river gorge and also up on the rim. There is absolutely zero cell service at any of them, so our stay was only possible with Starlink! We snagged a water/electric site at Rio Bravo inside the gorge to be close to the town of Taos.

Though the beauty of Taos doesn’t really come through in my photos, we loved it. I wasn’t able to capture the panoramic views that we saw of the town nestled between the Rio Grand Gorge and the snowy peaks of the Taos Mountains. And the main plaza and adjacent storefronts were under renovation and covered with fencing and scaffolding. But, Taos is like a miniature less cosmopolitan Santa Fe (which we really loved). They share the same trio of cultures (American Indian, Spanish, and Cowboy), Adobe-lined streets, and numerous art galleries. Taos is just much smaller and in a more dramatic landscape.

One afternoon, blindly following google maps, we took the scenic route up a steep dirt road from our campground to the top of the rim to see the Rio Grande Gorge bridge.

On Saturday, we picked up a cinnamon roll from Michael’s Kitchen in Taos and drove the 85-mile Enchanted Circle.

This scenic drive travels through portions of the Carson National Forest and circles Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in New Mexico at over 13,000 feet. Spring had not yet arrived and the aspens were bare.

Along the circle, you can stop at the small ski resorts and towns of Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, and Red River.

Next, we continue north into Colorado!