We absolutely love the cooler weather of the New Mexico mountains, but seems we picked a week that is having a high percentage for afternoon thunderstorms. On our way to Santa Fe from Pecos, we did find one, got to wear the rain suits for a few miles.
So far, the storms don't last long. They're wide enough apart, you can ride close before suiting up. And many times, running thru the mountains, the road will turn and you can "thread the needle" between showers. Not bad, yet, though rain chances are increasing every day.
While overnighting in Santa Fe, we found some references to two National Monuments that were located near Los Alamos.
The first one we went to was the Manhattan Project National Historic Park.
The Ranger told us this was the newest NPS spot in New Mexico, only open for six months. So far, they only offer a short film on the development of the atom bomb. It's a very small place, occupying a space approx 20' x 20', the theater room only accommodates 6 chairs.
The Rangers expressed some disappointment in the offerings, but alluded to the fact that all of the historical buildings were still "behind the fence", as in classified. Hopes are one day much of it will be open to visitors.
The Visitor Center is located downtown Los Alamos. GPS will take you to the correct city block, but the actual Center is on the opposite side of the street, the only marking is the small sign above. But, they did have a passport stamp, but no lapel pins.
From there, we went to the Bandelier National Monument. Their directions indicated a center just outside Los Alamos, but it was actually only a bus stop. You are not allowed to drive to Bandelier, all visitors must use the bus.. so we rode the bus. Very crowded bus. No opportunity for photos, which should have been nice on a very long, crowded entrance road.
When we arrived, they had a nice Visitor Center and film, a book store and small cafe... just drinks & snacks. What I neglected to find out, all the excavated sites are hike in only, so all I got was the passport stamped and a lapel pin. Ah well, add another to the book. Bandelier is a large place, 33k+ acres big. You can read about it here: https://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm
From here, we headed north to Taos. I'd read about the Rio Grande Gorge, and the bridge across it. A must see, even tho none of the sites in the area are NPS sites, they are still very beautiful.
We rode alongside the river for a good ways while traveling to Taos. Nice hills on either side, lots of rafters riding the river.
A short ride out of Taos, brought us to the bridge & gorge I wanted to see. There was plenty of parking and walkways out over the gorge for pics.
The Rio Grande River Gorge bridge
... and views from the bridge
Back to Taos to overnight. Next morning, we rode part of what the locals call The Enchanted Circle, north & east of Taos. Sadly we are headed home, the rain chances are increasing to 60-80% for the next four or five days.
To aggravate matters, the storage card in my camera got corrupted (what the camera said) so we lost many photos of the ride out. What few there is, are below. Suffice it to say, it's a very nice ride thru the mountains, up to 9800' elevation, before bottoming out on the way to Raton.
One of the many parks along the route
And we are now back in the hot, humid, skeeter infested homeland. So looking forward to riding the mountains around Maggie Valley in a couple of months. Gotta rest up and get the chores done around here.
As always, click on a photo to enlarge, pixel content is good enough for further enlargement on you machine, if desired.
Thanks for viewing, comments & recommendations welcome.
