This was our first visit to Red River, NM and it has been
wonderful in so many ways. We are coming
to the close of nine days here and wish we didn’t have to leave. The drive here from Buena Vista, CO was
fairly unremarkable. After going over
the pass just outside Salida, CO the drive was flat, level and very easy in the
motorhome. When we arrived in Questa, NM
we then headed 12 miles into the mountains to this beautiful little gem. Red River is a small community and only
covers 1 sq. mile of land. It is very
low key with lots of cute little shops and places to eat. It sits at the base of the ski slopes, some
of which are also used in the summer for sliding. Besides lots of hiking and horseback riding,
the big draw in the summer is the off roading so there are lots and lots of
ATVs, UTVs and jeeps. 
We stayed in the Roadrunner RV Park at the east end of town
nestled among the trees with the Red River running through the park. It’s a large park with several different
circle drives and over 200 sites. We
were able to get lots of dog walking in that included some hill climbing. It wasn’t uncommon to have mule deer coming
through the park and they don’t seem to be bothered by the humans and dogs. If we could afford it, we would stay here two
months in the summer, but they get $1200/month!
Yikes. A bit out of our price
range.
While we were here we paced ourselves, so we weren’t out and
about every day. We did get some off
roading in with our jeep but decided not to take on the Goose Lake Trail after
watching some videos. Toward the end that
trail it is very narrow and if you meet somebody, one of the vehicles must back
up. We did climb up to Cabresta Lake and
after coming down we kept moving on until we reached Midnight Meadows and
Greenie Peak. The view from Greenie Peak
was incredible. We were up high looking
down onto Red River and the ski slopes. Beautiful. We also drove the Enchanted Trail which is a
complete circle from Red River through Angel Fire and Taos and back to Red
River. 
We had heard about the St. James Hotel in Cimarron, NM which
was only 40 miles away, so we climbed over Bobcat Pass and headed down there to
check the place out. The hotel has lots
of history. I think every gun slinger
you can think off stayed there. There
are still bullet holes in the ceiling of the saloon. We were able to wonder through the hotel and
see several of the old rooms which I believe they still rent out. Each of them has a famous person’s name on
them. The walls were covered in photos
and historic information. We ate lunch
there and the food was affordable and well worth the drive over. John’s comment about his chicken fried steak
was “this is how chicken fry is supposed to be cooked”. They had a very large outdoor patio with a
water feature (that wasn’t working while we were there) and it looked like it
would be a fun place to check out in the evenings. While in Cimarron we took time to drive out
to the Philmont Scout Ranch. Now I know
where my nephew spends so much time. He
has been involved in scouts for years.
We also took a day trip through the Valle Vidal mountain basin in the Sangre de Cristo mountains and it was also gorgeous. We entered on the west side from Costilla
just 20 miles north of Questa on state highway 196. Just past Amalia we entered the west entrance
of Valle Vidal and 55 miles later we emerged just outside Cimarron. The road was gravel but a 2wd vehicle could do
the trek, although the gravel often was like a scrub board. The first several miles followed a trout stream
that wound around in the beautiful, green meadows. We took the top off the jeep and could look
straight up at the mountain spires that we were winding around in between. There were several folks out trout
fishing. We eventually found a picnic
table in the tall pines and aspens right next to the stream, so we stopped to
eat lunch and let the girls run around a bit.
They enjoyed drinking right out of the stream, something we usually can’t
allow them to do.
At times we were in the basin between the mountains and then
up high looking out for miles. The
scenery was nonstop. We had hoped to see
some wildlife but the best we got was cattle! We’ve seen more wild life in the RV park and just outside Red River on the main road. About 20 miles before the end of the gravel road it started to rain and then it hailed. We slowed down and stopped at times hoping our windshield wouldn’t break. The hail was just pea sized but sure enough, the glass has tiny little pits in it! I guess we need to be prepared to put in a windshield at least once a year. We’ve already changed the one in this jeep once.
When we passed through Cimarron to head back to Red River we
drove through Cimarron Canyon State Park heading toward Bobcat Pass. As we were heading into the Canyon we came
across a large snow plow and a short distance further in we came across another
one. Then we saw steam coming off the
road and then what looked snow! Yep – it
had hailed here as well – only a lot more than what we had encountered and it
looked like there was snow everywhere.
This is the area that was burned up in a wild fire last May and now when
they get a heavy rain they have mud slides, so we think the snow plows were out
in case of mud slides so they could get the road opened quickly. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter.
We wished our stay here didn’t have to end but we have other
things to move onto. We are heading to
Albuquerque on the 3rd of August for a family gathering and to see
some of the VA Golden Age Games. These
are for retired vets age 55 and up and my cousin is participating in them and
carrying the flag for his State of Oregon.
Should be fun.