Woke up this morning and decided just to drive up towards Taos for no other reason than I’ve never been that direction before and I know there is a ton of scenery to be found. The first leg from Raton going south on 64 is rather unremarkable other than it’s vast empty spaces. That all changes rather abruptly once you reach Cimarron – I don’t have photos since it’s all twisty mountain roads, but the area is beautiful and I’d like to revisit someday should I find time. First stop of the morning where I could actually stop and stretch is in Eagle Nest. I pulled off at the Moreno Lake Day Use Area which is part of Eagle Nest Lake State Park and observed something you don’t see much of in the desert – a big, flat, glassy lake surrounded by mountains. I would drive back here for the views alone.
I picked a bit of a challenging day to visit as there was road work and controlled burns being carried out and traffic was stopped for quite a long time. On the plus side, you can see some brilliant yellow aspens poking out at high elevation in the forest – something I have not seen much of yet due to warm temperatures. It certainly is colder up here above 8,000 feet – enough that I finally had to put a hoodie on!
Bit of a smoke bath from the controlled burns as I weaved my way south on 64.
And finally some more aspens up on the peaks somewhere closer to Agua Fria. The road starts getting twisty past that point and I had to stop playing with the camera. I was just enjoying the drive and soaking in all that I could see. Didn’t know at the time but this is part of a loop scenic drive around Wheeler Peak, the tallest peak in New Mexico. It was mostly obscured by smoke and clouds, but it’s easy to see why this drive is a New Mexico Scenic Byway known as the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, and also a National Forest Scenic Byway as it passed through the Carson National Forest in parts. I only did 1/4 of the loop and it’s worth checking out for sure.
