Rapid City to Taos and Back: Leesha’s Last Trip – Day 8, Wild Rivers Recreation Area, Red River, Questa and Back to Taos

Friend Dave and hostess Annie suggested a day trip to the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande at the BLM Wild Rivers Recreation Area north of Taos.  It sounded great, so we saddled up and rode up there — in the 4-Runner.  On the way out to NM 68, several things caught our eye.  The first were the mountains behind Arroyo Seco we could see in the mirror as we drove away.

Annie spotted a great-looking Appaloosa on the Taos Pueblo reservation side of the fence that runs along the road to Arroyo Seco, and I stopped to get a shot of it.

While I was taking a photo of the horse, I saw a dragon fly motionless just over the fence line.

To continue the trip we went up NM 68 to the junction of NM 522 to Questa and over to Wild Rivers Recreation Area.  It was a sunny, warm, but not too hot, day.  Perfect.

According to the BLM website, “The Rio Grande or “Great River” has sliced an 800-foot deep volcanic canyon through the high plains of northern New Mexico, rich with history, rugged beauty, and exciting recreational opportunities. This natural wonder is intensively used, yet 90 percent remains in a natural condition; the other 10 percent is developed for concentrated recreational use. The Wild Rivers Back-Country Byway, winding its way along the rim of the Rio Grande gorge, offers access to spectacular overlooks, including the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande at La Junta Point — possibly the most dramatic vista statewide, and it is wheelchair accessible.

The canyon ecosystem descends 800 feet from rim to river, creating a unique diversity in plant and animal life. Ancient pinon and juniper forests are home to 500 year-old trees. Watchable wildlife opportunities include mule deer, red-tailed hawk, mountain blue-bird, and prairie dog. The climate is semi-arid with summer thunderstorms common in July and August, and snow possible from November through March. Summer temperatures range from 45 to 90F and in winter from -15 to 45F.”

The Rio Grande gorge at this point is rimmed with basalt formations, and pumice-like volcanic rock is scattered along the rim.  Everywhere there are twisted pinon pines in sculptural shapes.  Cactus grows amid the rocks and logs.

You can drive along the gorge rim to a spot called La Junta Point where you have a great view both up and down the gorge.  From there you look down into the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande.

As you can see from the photo above there are trails through the gorge, in addition to white water opportunities and fishing — brown trout in the Rio Grande, stocked rainbows in the Red River.   Louise walked down the trail to the bottom for a ways just to get a better view.  The trail starts at La Junta Point and descends into the Red River canyon side of the confluence.

At the confluence, the Red River comes in from the left, the Rio Grande from the right, as seen in the photo below.

The plants along the rim were diverse and a little surprising, except for the cactus — it was very arid.

Everywhere around were interesting shapes and textures.

Looking down into the canyon bottom, you could see a few quiet spots in the Rio Grande.

 

 

And more views…..

To get to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area from Taos, follow NM 68 north 7 miles. Continue north on NM 522 approximately 20 miles to Questa. Travel 3 miles past the stoplight in Questa to NM 378. Turn left onto NM 378 and follow the signs about 12 miles west to Wild Rivers Recreation Area.

After a few hours walking along the rims, we headed to the town of Red River for lunch before continuing our adventure through the mountains above the town.

After lunch we headed out of Red River on a forest service road that took off near the middle of town and headed up into the mountains — with the idea we’d eventually end up back over in Questa.  The road was gravel and a little rough, but no problem for the 4-Runner.  We were again surprised at all the wild flowers in the canyon as we headed up to a pass on the road — a lot of them for August.  But then we remembered the elevation.  The town of Red River is at over 8,600 feet.

 

As we climbed higher, we started to get some more panoramic views, looking down onto the Red River ski area. The peaks beyond the ski area were beautiful as well — we imagined what they would have looked like with a snow covering on them.

As we got closer to the top of the pass on the way to Questa, we came around a corner and saw a small group of people standing around in the road.  As we got closer, we saw a rent-a-jeep laying on its side in the road.  Two guys on motorcycles were part of the on-looking crowd.  One came down to tell us the jeep driver had lost control on the curve and drifted backwards until the jeep flipped on its side.  Nobody hurt, thank goodness, but some rent-a-jeep patrons very weirded out waiting for a tow truck from Red River to come slowly up the twisty gravel road to set things aright.

We couldn’t get past the jeep and had no idea how long it would take a wrecker to arrive, so we turned around and took a fork in the road that still took us to Questa, but not over the pass we anticipated seeing.  We drove past a gate that captured our fancy — mostly because of a 1975 grade B movie we loved in college made in Montana called Rancho Deluxe written by Tom McGuane and starring Jeff Bridges, Sam Waterston, (a cattle rustler in a pre Law and Order role) and Elizabeth Ashley — sound track featuring “Livingston Saturday Night” by Jimmie Buffet.  Locals say it was the beginning of the end of Livingston as a small quaint Montana railroad town and the selling off of nearby Paradise Valley to Hollywood types.

The movie tag line: Oh, give me a home, with a low interest loan. A cowgirl and two pickup trucks. A color TV, all the beer should be free. And that, man, is Rancho Deluxe.

Of course, in New Mexico, it would be El Rancho Deluxe.

As we reached the outskirts of Questa, we saw a scattering of buildings that provided examples of adobe construction that were interesting in the evening sun.

Before we hit the highway in Questa again, we came across an amazing old church that was in danger of collapse, but was still quite lovely from the front in the fading light.

We left Questa and headed back to Arroyo Seco.  As we got near, we saw the familiar mountains up behind Arroyo Seco hit by low sun.

Once home, we kicked back on the patio and enjoyed the waning day.  I watched amazing light filtering through the sunset clouds — especially as it hit some of Annie’s lovely plantings around the patio.

And then we were treated to another fantastic Taos sunset.

Text by Brian and Louise, Photos by Brian.  Text and photos copyright Goin Mobyle LLC 2010.