12/21/21 - Santa Fe to Albuquerque via Taos
Rather than the straight hour plus drive, we decided to head up to Taos and then down into Albuquerque, going through Los Alamos.
I am glad we made the decision as we saw spectacular countryside we wouldn't have otherwise seen.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande outside Velarde on the way from Santa Fe to Taos
12/21/21 - Rio Grande outside Velarde on the way from Santa Fe to Taos
12/21/21 - Rock structure around Embudo on the way from Santa Fe to Taos
12/21/21 - Rio Grande gorge around Pilar on the way from Santa Fe to Taos
12/21/21 - We didn't stop and walk around in Taos, but we did stop and bought a tamale for lunch.
12/21/21 - The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" or the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, Roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande, it is the tenth highest bridge in the United States.
The bridge was started in 1963 and completed in 1965. It was dedicated on September 10, 1965 and is a part of U.S. Route 64, a major east–west road. The span is 1,280 feet: two 300-foot-long approach spans with a 600-foot-long (180 m) main center span
Although one of the highest bridges in the US, exactly how high the main span is above ground still remains up in the air. When it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1967, this distance was cited as 650’ over the Rio Grande. And today that number is still widely used. In 2010 however, the Highest Bridges Web Site came out with a substantially lower (565’) figure. This height was most likely derived using a laser range finder but the site did not specifically reference it that way. Wikipedia used this 565’ figure in 2012 when updating its list of bridges in the United States by height, but kept the 650’ figure for the bridge in its Rio Grande del Norte National Monument article. And then in 2015, a height of 600’ appeared on the scene. An author of a bridge book noted this discrepancy and recommended this compromise number be used until the matter was authoritatively resolved. This 600’ figure then cropped up in a January 2016 Materials Performance Magazine white paper about the bridge's then just completed inspection by the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
12/21/21 - The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" or the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, Roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande, it is the tenth highest bridge in the United States.
The bridge was started in 1963 and completed in 1965. It was dedicated on September 10, 1965 and is a part of U.S. Route 64, a major east–west road. The span is 1,280 feet: two 300-foot-long approach spans with a 600-foot-long (180 m) main center span
Although one of the highest bridges in the US, exactly how high the main span is above ground still remains up in the air. When it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1967, this distance was cited as 650’ over the Rio Grande. And today that number is still widely used. In 2010 however, the Highest Bridges Web Site came out with a substantially lower (565’) figure. This height was most likely derived using a laser range finder but the site did not specifically reference it that way. Wikipedia used this 565’ figure in 2012 when updating its list of bridges in the United States by height, but kept the 650’ figure for the bridge in its Rio Grande del Norte National Monument article. And then in 2015, a height of 600’ appeared on the scene. An author of a bridge book noted this discrepancy and recommended this compromise number be used until the matter was authoritatively resolved. This 600’ figure then cropped up in a January 2016 Materials Performance Magazine white paper about the bridge's then just completed inspection by the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
12/21/21 - The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" or the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, Roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande, it is the tenth highest bridge in the United States.
The bridge was started in 1963 and completed in 1965. It was dedicated on September 10, 1965 and is a part of U.S. Route 64, a major east–west road. The span is 1,280 feet: two 300-foot-long approach spans with a 600-foot-long (180 m) main center span
Although one of the highest bridges in the US, exactly how high the main span is above ground still remains up in the air. When it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1967, this distance was cited as 650’ over the Rio Grande. And today that number is still widely used. In 2010 however, the Highest Bridges Web Site came out with a substantially lower (565’) figure. This height was most likely derived using a laser range finder but the site did not specifically reference it that way. Wikipedia used this 565’ figure in 2012 when updating its list of bridges in the United States by height, but kept the 650’ figure for the bridge in its Rio Grande del Norte National Monument article. And then in 2015, a height of 600’ appeared on the scene. An author of a bridge book noted this discrepancy and recommended this compromise number be used until the matter was authoritatively resolved. This 600’ figure then cropped up in a January 2016 Materials Performance Magazine white paper about the bridge's then just completed inspection by the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Rio Grande Gorge
Known locally as the Gorge, this approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, beginning near the Colorado border and is a depth is 800 feet just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
I, like most people, associate the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. But it originates high in the Rocky Mountains where two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed.
12/21/21 - Earthship community
Just a few miles from where New Mexico’s Route 64 crosses the Rio Grande, a collection of alien looking buildings stand out in the otherwise desolate landscape. These houses—79 in total—are built partially into their natural surroundings, each with a wall of windows facing directly south.
On 640 acres just 10 minutes west of Taos is the community platted for 130 homes. Community members own their land. Members own lots which vary in size from .75 acres to 3 acres. More than half of the total land is owned in common. This 347 acre “green belt” is never to be built upon.
The community is exclusively Earthship homes. There is a Board of Directors who enforce the Land User’s Code.
Annual dues for the community are currently $150 for road maintenance and the community improvement fund.
12/21/21 - Earthship community
Just a few miles from where New Mexico’s Route 64 crosses the Rio Grande, a collection of alien looking buildings stand out in the otherwise desolate landscape. These houses—79 in total—are built partially into their natural surroundings, each with a wall of windows facing directly south.
On 640 acres just 10 minutes west of Taos is the community platted for 130 homes. Community members own their land. Members own lots which vary in size from .75 acres to 3 acres. More than half of the total land is owned in common. This 347 acre “green belt” is never to be built upon.
The community is exclusively Earthship homes. There is a Board of Directors who enforce the Land User’s Code.
Annual dues for the community are currently $150 for road maintenance and the community improvement fund.
12/21/21 - Earthship community
Just a few miles from where New Mexico’s Route 64 crosses the Rio Grande, a collection of alien looking buildings stand out in the otherwise desolate landscape. These houses—79 in total—are built partially into their natural surroundings, each with a wall of windows facing directly south.
On 640 acres just 10 minutes west of Taos is the community platted for 130 homes. Community members own their land. Members own lots which vary in size from .75 acres to 3 acres. More than half of the total land is owned in common. This 347 acre “green belt” is never to be built upon.
The community is exclusively Earthship homes. There is a Board of Directors who enforce the Land User’s Code.
Annual dues for the community are currently $150 for road maintenance and the community improvement fund.
12/21/21 - Earthship community
Just a few miles from where New Mexico’s Route 64 crosses the Rio Grande, a collection of alien looking buildings stand out in the otherwise desolate landscape. These houses—79 in total—are built partially into their natural surroundings, each with a wall of windows facing directly south.
On 640 acres just 10 minutes west of Taos is the community platted for 130 homes. Community members own their land. Members own lots which vary in size from .75 acres to 3 acres. More than half of the total land is owned in common. This 347 acre “green belt” is never to be built upon.
The community is exclusively Earthship homes. There is a Board of Directors who enforce the Land User’s Code.
Annual dues for the community are currently $150 for road maintenance and the community improvement fund.
12/21/21 - Around Ojo Caliente
12/21/21 - Around Ojo Caliente
12/21/21 - Around Ojo Caliente
12/21/21 - Anderson Overlook is right off Highway 502 in Los Alamos. The Sangre de Cristo mountains stand tall above Rio Grande Valley.
12/21/21 - Anderson Overlook is right off Highway 502 in Los Alamos. The Sangre de Cristo mountains stand tall above Rio Grande Valley.
12/21/21 - Anderson Overlook is right off Highway 502 in Los Alamos. The Sangre de Cristo mountains stand tall above Rio Grande Valley.
12/21/21 - Valles Caldera National Preserve
About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera that lies atop a dormant supervolcano. This caldera, or volcanic crater has walls that stretch from a few hundred to over 2,000 feet above its floor.
The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams.
12/21/21 - Valles Caldera National Preserve
About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera that lies atop a dormant supervolcano. This caldera, or volcanic crater has walls that stretch from a few hundred to over 2,000 feet above its floor.
The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams.
12/21/21 - Valles Caldera National Preserve
About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera that lies atop a dormant supervolcano. This caldera, or volcanic crater has walls that stretch from a few hundred to over 2,000 feet above its floor.
The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams.
12/21/21 - Valles Caldera National Preserve
About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera that lies atop a dormant supervolcano. This caldera, or volcanic crater has walls that stretch from a few hundred to over 2,000 feet above its floor.
The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams.
12/21/21 - We were up high enough around Jemez Springs that we ran into snow in the mountains
12/21/21 - Around Jemez Springs
12/21/21 - Around Jemez Springs
12/21/21 - Around Jemez Springs