Sheep’s Crossing on the Rio Grande, is below me to the left, with Ute Mountain straight ahead, in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. It’s beautiful out here on the rim of the gorge watching the early morning light reach down into the canyon. The snow melt in the high country is making for great runoff and the subsequent river rafting season. Join me on a photo tour/workshop. Thanks for looking. G
Bighorn Sheep ram, on the rim in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. The Bighorn Sheep were a “big” feature on a photo tour/workshop today on the Sites of Taos, the Rio Grande Gorge and Beyond. It was a grand day, filled with spectacular clouds, New Mexico blue skies, rain, hail, and snow, all in good company and image making. Thanks to my guest photographers and thanks for looking. G
Red-tailed Hawk, in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. We made a beautiful drive today that started out in blizzard conditions at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It got worse on the west rim road until we descended into the canyon at the Orilla Verde Recreation Area. At the river we simultaneously scared up a Blue heron and some Mallards, not on purpose of course, but this Red-tailed Hawk lingered on a rocky perch high above the river for a few observation shots and then this happened. It was a good day. Thanks for looking. G
Canyon of the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande flows in a north south direction from Colorado, through New Mexico, Texas and Mexico where it finally reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Six hundred feet or so below the rim the river passes through what is known as the “box”, a steep sided canyon on the Taos Plateau, seen here from the Highway 64 high bridge. “Our Canyon” now part of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument continues to amaze me and visitors alike. The views are very vast and one gets the sense of a place where earth meets sky and separation is intangible. “Our river” keeps on rolling. As it heads south the river gathers more stories to tell. It nourishes and replenishes the landscape, wildlife and people of the desert southwest. Thanks for looking. G
The Rio Grande in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Looking upstream from the Taos Junction Bridge to Sunset Rapid and the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Rio Pueblo. This location is a favorite of mine. The river makes for a really nice leading line. Thanks for looking. G
Here are some links to a few more images in this location at different times of year.
Bighorn Sheep in the Rio Grande Gorge. Bighorn juveniles testing their mettle on the rocks in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Thanks for looking. G
Taos Junction on the Rio Grande. Another beautiful day again today in northern New Mexico. This image made from the Taos Junction Bridge in the Orilla Verde RA in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, is one of my favorite locations. This location always continues inspire me when I pull over and park by the river. Fall is in full swing here in northern New Mexico. Drop in if you can, we’ll be glad to show you around and share this great part of the American southwest with you. Thanks for looking. G
Fog lifting from the Rio Grande Gorge. The Rio Grande Rift, is an extraordinary feature of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, in northern New Mexico.
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week, three views of the North House at Taos Pueblo. If you are fortunate to be in Taos this year, put the Taos Pueblo on your list of places to visit.
I hope everyone had a good week. A short post this week, nonetheless, an expansive one. Three panoramas, taken before winter, during winter, and the following spring, plus a view on a spring day, from a hill in our National Monument. Enjoy.
Taos Pueblo North House, before winter.
Taos Pueblo, located in northern New Mexico, is a remarkable Native American community that has been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is renowned for its multi-storied adobe buildings, which exemplify traditional Pueblo architecture. The structures, made from earth, straw, and water, are meticulously maintained by the Taos people, who are committed to preserving their cultural heritage. The Pueblo is nestled at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, offering a stunning backdrop that enhances its historical and spiritual significance. Visitors to Taos Pueblo can experience the rich traditions and vibrant culture of the Taos people, who continue to uphold their ancestral customs and way of life.
North House, in winter.
North House, in spring.
On a spring hike last week, up a small hill with expansive views in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Ute Mountain in the distance, left of center, and San Cristobal, where we live, is in the foothills behind the tree on the right.
The Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.
The mountains in this view, from left to right, are: Cerro de la Olla, Brushy Mountain, Ute, Cerro Chiflo, the Latir Peaks, Guadalupe Mtn North and South, Flag Mtn, and Lobo Peak. The hill we were standing on (not named) is only 333 feet up, but with excellent vistas.
We also re-visited this old corral out there in the middle of nowhere.
Old corral, in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.
Greetings from New Mexico, the land of enchantment.. This week, scenes in the land of enchantment. Some say the land of entrapment. Once here, it’s hard to leave. I can attest to that statement. I first arrived here in 1984, moving here permanently in 1988. My friend, Harry you met last week, and his wife, Noreen, were two of the first people I met. It’s been 41 years this coming Thanksgiving.
Below is a piece I wrote about my first time on the High Road to Taos.
“In Thanksgiving week 1984, I made my first of many trips to New Mexico. On this occasion, five of us friends set out on a foggy morning from Santa Fe and made our way north on the high road to Taos. The sites and sounds on the streets of Santa Fe soon opened up to the immense vistas of mesas, and beyond to the Taos Volcanic Plateau.
We passed through the village of Chimayo, climbing the hill to Truchas (Spanish for Trout). Rapidly gaining elevation, the landscape changed to pristine hills of ponderosa pines and rust-colored tones of scrub oak in the undergrowth. Bare white highlights of lanky aspen punctuated the vast square miles of pine trees in the Carson National Forrest. Through the misty veil of condensation on the window, we were afforded more than a subtle hint of what autumn in the high country of New Mexico might have looked like one month earlier.
Leaving Truchas for Penasco, the fog set in. The temperature dropped in the sparsely populated, mountain communities of Las Trampas and Picuris. The colder air outside the car became magically enhanced from the aroma of piñon and juniper burning in the fireplaces of scattered homes. At this very moment… sometimes you just know it, the mystery of things unknown and northern New Mexico took a very palpable hold on me.
Not more than four years later, in the spring of 1988, that hold tightened and I moved to a small adobe building with two fireplaces, in Talpa, NM and began stockpiling five cords of wood for what promised to be a cold winter that year…“
The land of Enchantment, and every day I go to Town, I pass this scene of Taos Pueblo Peak. A little dusting of snow today with more promising accumulations tonight.
Taos Pueblo Peak.
Many places here in the Land of Enchantment never get old for me. You know this one!
Arroyo Hondo, Cottonwood.
Details in the land of enchantment, a tiny pine cone among this year’s fallen leaves.
Pine cone and leaves.
Costilla, New Mexico, located in the San Luis Valley, on the New Mexico/Colorado state line, is about as far north as one can go in this land of enchantment. No less enchanting, this area and its abandoned farms and buildings inspired John Nichols’ book, Milagro Beanfield War. The movie was filmed in Truchas on the High Road to Taos.
Costilla, NM.
New work in the making. “Three chairs and a tree.”
On the plateau in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.
As always, thank you for looking and all the kind words of support and compliments. Have a great week. G
