tiles everywhere in and out of the house. Adobe needs periodic maintenance, and one thing to note in Taos is that many of the buildings were not originally adobe but have been stuccoed in recent years. The churches are often the best way to see architecture from history, although each one has to have periodic maintenance and construction from time to time.
Colorful doors adorn the adobe walls.
Hornos are the bee-hived shaped outdoor ovens you will often see in a courtyard (like the Kit Carson House). People can cook many things in these outdoor ovens including bread, but they were used often in summer because it was too hot to fire up an oven inside the house.
CAMPING
If you look at a map of the Enchanted Circle, you’ll find more campgrounds than you can quickly count, everything from primitive ones off the beaten track to full-fledged hookups, in high desert or alpine, by river or lake, for the tent or big RV, and everything in between. You can camp along numerous rivers including the Rio Grande, Red River, and Rio Costilla. Our favorite might be on the aspen-filled Santa Barbara River. Because of the sudden weather changes, the amazing scenery, proximity to so many outdoor activities, and the varying quality of the campgrounds, camping is always challenging but rewarding in northern New Mexico.
There are countless camping opportunities along the Enchanted Circle.
The campgrounds are all over the map in terms of what they offer: some provide clean restrooms, Wi-Fi, water, and electrical hookups, and some offer (at best) a Porta-Potty, if that. You can camp at state parks, national forests, and national monuments, and as crowded as it gets during holidays, it seems there are always some campgrounds with room on the Enchanted Circle.
If you camp, put up your food at night, and don’t leave out anything that might tempt wild creatures. Use common sense about fires and learn if your campground is under a campfire moratorium. Not all campgrounds have potable water, nor do many have waste water dumps.
WILDLIFE
Don’t pet bears. That’s for starters. Along the Enchanted Circle, as remote as it is with so little population, the wildlife is plentiful and diverse and interacts often with the towns and their people. In Red River, it is common to see deer feeding in yards or walking across the street. Bighorn sheep can be found on the roadside east of Questa among other places. If you drive, hike, or spend any time outdoors, you’ll see wildlife.
Respect the wildlife. Don’t feed the animals. Respect distance with any animal, not only for your safety but for theirs. You might see eagles, marmots, bighorn sheep, deer, and elk all in one day. Marmots are known as whistling pigs, the fat furry critters that crawl around the rocky slopes. In the lower elevations, you might see snakes—in particular, rattlesnakes. Just watch where you put your hands and keep an eye out as you hike or climb.
We see lots of birders around the Enchanted Circle. The Enchanted Circle is great for birding, or so we’re told and so we read, but we aren’t birders. We see birds and know Western Tanagers, redtailed hawks, golden eagles, hummingbirds, magpies, Canada jays, chickadees, and woodpeckers, but other than that… we just don’t know our birds.
Wildlife You Might See around the Enchanted Circle
• Marmot
• Bighorn sheep
• Mule deer
• Elk
• Rattlesnake
• Peregrine falcon
• Black bear
• Tarantula
• River otter
• Red-tailed hawk
• Bald eagle
• Golden eagle
• Hummingbird
• Albert squirrel
• Wild turkey
• Prairie dog
• Pika
• Mountain lion (you almost never see one, but they’re around)
And the list goes on and on. Have fun putting together your own list of all the wildlife you see on your trip.
Beware of Bears
Bears live in the Enchanted Circle. You probably won’t see one. You might see one from a distance while you are hiking. You possibly could see one cross the road. The only sure way to see a bear is to foolishly leave food outside overnight.
Bears are intelligent creatures and have an amazing sense of smell. It doesn’t take long for a bear to realize that improperly stored garbage is an easy source of food. The pattern of events is predictable: A bear feeds on garbage and people enjoy the spectacle. After a few visits, the bear loses its fear of humans because the lure of garbage is greater than its natural tendency to avoid people. When the bear no longer fears humans, someone usually gets hurt and the bear is put down.
The best approach to avoid all this is to “bear-proof” your property by storing food, garbage, and other attractants (dog food and bones and treats, or an uncleaned barbecue grill, for example) away from bears. To decrease odors, store garbage in tightly tied or heavy-duty bags in bear-resistant dumpsters or garbage cans. You’ll find these receptacles in most of the towns along the Enchanted Circle. If a bear-proof container is not available, store the garbage indoors until it can be taken to a refuse site. Take advantage of regular trash pickup services.
Black bear exploring near Taos Ski Valley.
By the way, black bears come in a variety of colors, including cinnamon, honey, blonde, and reddish. You won’t find any grizzly bears since they last walked in New Mexico over one hundred years ago.
FISHING
in the Enchanted Circle
The Enchanted Circle offers some of the best trout fishing in the state and in the Southwest. You could fish for pike in a high-desert river in the morning and rare cutthroat trout in a pristine creek in the afternoon. You can fish in rivers and creeks in so many climates and in high desert streams, alpine brooks, small wild creeks, high country lake, tailwaters, and springfed year-round rivers. The trout waters of the Enchanted Circle offer fishing for all four seasons, private and public, beginner and advanced, and you can find lots of fly-fishing shops and tackle stores, rentals, guides, and outfitters. The kicker is the gorgeous native Rio Grande cutthroat you can catch, an ancient fish that only inhabits 7 percent of its original habitat and is found in several regional streams.
For fly fishers, the area has some notable hatches including a not-to-miss caddis hatch on the Rio Grande in late May. You will see stoneflies early, and caddis and mayfly throughout the rest of summer and fall. Grasshoppers
