The beauty of being on the road constantly is the ability to go places you’d never heard of until a day prior.
We rolled into Taos, New Mexico to pet sit. And I consulted my trusty National Parks and Monuments map, and there it was– the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.
I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t realize it was THAT Rio Grande. Like, THE Rio Grande.
I associate it so closely with Texas, and being the natural border to Mexico, that I had never considered its origination point was further north– in Colorado, to be exact. But I was excited to see this mighty river as it traverses the entire length of the state of New Mexico, and is one of the most important rivers in the country.
National Monuments are less trafficked by far than National Parks in general, and given its remoteness and the winter season, I was the only car parked at the Visitors Center when I stopped in. A lone park ranger helped me decipher the confusion I’d felt from looking at AllTrails– the National Monument is divided in two.
The gorge itself is massive– and the National Monument is sectioned off where the canyon walls are the steepest. Otherwise, you can drive right alongside the Rio Grande on the highway from Santa Fe to Taos. And even raft upon it, if you wanted. But I wanted to hike down to it, and needed to talk to the ranger about trails.
You see, strangely– the National Monument areas are listed as BOTH North and South of Taos– yes, two areas that are divided by about 40-60 miles. With hikes in both sections, it was hard to decipher what was what. The way I picked my trail was to read a bunch from AllTrails I had saved, with the ranger affirming which ones were in this particular section of the monument.
I had picked the more Northern region to drive to due to its lack of man’s touch– the other section’s main feature is a the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, a steel span bridge that is beautiful, but hardly natural.
The lookout point was above the area where two rivers joined– the Rio Grande and the Red River, intersected in a canyon with walls that were 800 feet deep. It was a clear day, and the impact was breathtaking– nearly as steep as the Grand Canyon, though not as layered, the viewpoint was perfectly-situated to give one a sense of awe at these mighty rivers.
Set aside by President Obama in 2013, Rio Grande del Norte is one of the newer National Monuments. That was clear based on the lack of infrastructure, though that will come in-time. The ranger station was all I needed, as he had set me right on a hike, and I set off to find the trailhead.
Big Arsenic Springs trail descended down into the canyon all the way to the river– and since Mac and I were hiking it by ourselves, we were conscious of the ‘what goes down must come up’ rule– meaning the hard part was to be on the way out. And the elevation being what it was, I knew I’d be short of breath and have to take my time.
Can you see the stone barrier in the upper left photo below? That’s what kept one from sliding downward on descent.
The trail cut down the canyon really steeply in switchbacks, which was challenging only because of the lingering ice and snow making the footfalls tricky. The well-marked trail carried signs saying the canyon mostly was cut from basalt– volcanic rock, which was evidenced by the porous and light stone I saw throughout.
The juniper trees were throwing off such a strong scent in the cool winter air– I crushed some in my fingers to inhale it like an addict. The sage plants in the high desert also had me doing the same– nothing beats the scents in the high desert.
Descending downward, I was pleased to find myself right at the banks of the river. This wasn’t a particularly rapid section, but I was careful and kept Mac close nonetheless– it’s the current one can’t see that can be a problem. Some of the giant stones in the river were clearly not basalt– glacial material, I sat on one of them to have lunch, and fed Mac a treat or two.
Now, for the hard part! Climbing up 800 feet in less than a mile– a pretty good workout when at elevation.
Though if you asked Mac, he would have said it was easy– Snow Zoomies being his favorite kind of zoomies– he raced up the trail and seemed to wonder why I was taking so long.
Just a mile down and a mile up, this hike was the best possible way to see Rio Grande National Monument– getting down to touch the very water of the powerful river was humbling. I’d recommend going to the northern part of the monument if you are near Taos or Santa Fe and taking this hike– it was well worth the trip, and one of the most scenic ways to experience the park.
Posted by Sun
