Tag Archives: Red River

September 30, 2016 · 5:35 am

Fun Photo Friday — Beginning the Enchanted Circle

Enchanted Circle Byway — Road to Red River

Today I present some of my favorite shots the drive to Red River, and include one photo taken the following day. Next week we’ll begin our fall foliage tour in earnest. Click on any image below to enlarge and bring up today’s slide show:

Rio Grande Gorge

Riverside Lodge & Cabins

Enchanted Circle Byway — Road to Red River

Riverside Lodge & Cabins

Entering fall foliage country

Red River

Enchanted Circle Byway — Road to Red River

Riverside Lodge & Cabins

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Filed under Automobiles and Driving, Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Tagged as Carson National Forest, Enchanted Circle, fall foliage, New Mexico, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Red River, Taos Loop, travel, travel photography

September 28, 2016 · 5:35 am

The Enchanted Circle — Spending Time in Red River

Riverside Lodge & Cabins

After a long drive from Trinity Site, through Santa Fe and Taos, and along the Enchanted Circle, we made Red River shortly before sunset. One side of the main street was perfectly lighted by the low sun, as you can see here:

Red River, New Mexico

As we drove around trying to decide where to stay, we took a short side trip to the ski area adjoining town.

Red River ski area

But the sun was going down fast, so photography soon ended. Here’s an image of Red River as seen from our accommodations for the night:

View from our Riverside Lodge & Cabins room

Getting serious about a place to sleep we first tried one charming little lodge, but it was full. We struck gold on our second attempt at the Riverside Lodge & Cabins. And, while I’m not much for football, I did get to watch Clemson University take down Notre Dame. Life was good.

Riverside Lodge & Cabins — Our elevated corner room

For those interested in a charming place to stay on this journey, you can certainly do a lot worse. Here are the accommodations, and the views:

View from our Riverside Lodge & Cabins room

Riverside Lodge & Cabins — stacked wood for the stove

Riverside Lodge & Cabins living area

Riverside Lodge & Cabins wood burning stove

Riverside Lodge & Cabins kitchen

Riverside Lodge & Cabins bedroom 1

Riverside Lodge & Cabins bedroom 2

Comments Off on The Enchanted Circle — Spending Time in Red River

Filed under Automobiles and Driving, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Tagged as Carson National Forest, Enchanted Circle, fall foliage, New Mexico, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Red River, Taos Loop, travel, travel photography

September 26, 2016 · 5:35 am

Fall Foliage Tour — Beginning the Enchanted Circle of New Mexico

Early last October Ursula and I took a little road trip. It began with a stop at Trinity Site, location of the first atomic bomb detonation. You can see links to my articles on that adventure below following today’s post. As for the rest of the trip — a fall foliage tour along the famous Enchanted Circle through Taos, Questa, Red River, the Carson National Forest, Eagle’s Nest, and Angel Fire — I saved that for now.

Enchanted Circle Byway

The reason for that delay is simple: I wanted to time my articles on this journey to coincide with this year’s fall foliage season. The Enchanted Circle Byway, also called “the Taos Loop”, is an 83-mile road trip through both nature and time that begins and ends in the art community of Taos, New Mexico. The byway circles Wheeler Peak, which at 13,161 feet/4,011 meters is the tallest point in New Mexico.

Map from The Armchair Explorer

Heading north from Santa Fe and descending into Taos the first “enchanting” view is of the Rio Grande Gorge, a deep scar that runs through the Taos Plateau volcanic field. The gorge and surrounding areas are encompassed by the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, established in 2013.

Below are two views of the Rio Grande Gorge taken from high ground southwest of Taos. The first shot was taken in the late afternoon on October 3, 2015. The second was taken near midday the following day as we concluded our trip and started home.

Late after noon at the Rio Grande Gorge

Midday view of the Rio Grande Gorge in sunlight

Our intended destination this night was the resort town of Red River, where after the long drive from Trinity Site we hoped to find decent lodging at an affordable price. You’ll see how we lucked out on Wednesday. I’ll just say for now that this is a place I can highly recommend on your tour of the Enchanted Circle Byway. Along the way we were treated to some magnificent perfectly lighted views beneath dramatic skies: