Angel Fire, Taos, Santa Fe, Red River, Eagle Nest, Chama, Clayton, Cimarron, Las Vegas

Crystal blue skies, warm sunshine, clean mountain air, and towns with character so unique it’s almost like crossing international borders. Everywhere you venture in northern New Mexico, you’ll find an abundance of outdoor adventures all year long. A bit of the wild spirit from days past lives on throughout the entire region. And of course you’ll encounter folks as friendly as they come, eager to share a tale or two or direct you to a little known spot where the views will knock your snowshoes off. The only way to avoid a great view up here is to close your eyes.
Aside from our physical wonders, much of what makes a trip to northern New Mexico so fascinating is the diversity of cultures you’ll discover while venturing from town to town. Quaint little communities dot the landscape, each with a unique past and eclectic group of residents. When the population gets into four digits, you’ve reached the big city around here.
The traditional blend of Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo has influenced the ways of the land for hundreds of years. But we’re now more global and have residents from all over the world. The arts and crafts, architecture, foods, special events and character of each town here in northern New Mexico is reflective of the past. Take some time and explore, head down that dirt road that looks like it leads nowhere. Stop and chat with a local; you’ll take home a few good stories to share.

Angel Fire
Conceived as a resort town, Angel Fire has nestled itself into the south end of the Moreno Valley to become much more than that. One of the state’s fastest-growing villages, Angel Fire has taken its responsibilities to citizens and visitors alike very seriously with careful planning, great shops and restaurants, solid community services and a sincere desire for everyone to have a good time. It would be hard not to – ringed by high peaks and wide grasslands, the view from town is breathtaking. It’s an inviting town to use as a jumping-off place for all sorts of winter adventures or to just spend quality time with the family. High, far from city stress, full of options.

Taos
Taos was a crossroads for travellers and traders even before the Spanish arrived some 400 years ago. A polyglot hum of accents and languages will catch the ear on the street or in a pub, and that’s just the locals. Ancient Anasazi and disillusioned Chacoans, Spanish conquestadores and French traders, American artists and foreign film makers, maybe even an alien or two – all have left their mark on the culture. It has made the fabric of life here rich, vibrant, full of color.
Taos has a deep appreciation for its own history and a strong sense of self. There’s plenty to do but also much to experience. Museums, fine dining, and sumptuous galleries, of COURSE; but also drumming, Pueblo ceremonials, musical performances and a wide variety of cross-cultural artistic expression. There’s a combination of light, air and energy here that lured people centuries before primo shopping, diverse cuisine and great works of art left their marks.

Santa Fe
Pegged as The City Different, Santa Fe offers a taste of everything. From centuries-old cultures rich in tradition to the cutting edge of art, fashion and technology, Santa Fe embraces the diversity that makes the city such an exciting place to visit.
It seems the calendar revolves around art in Santa Fe. From art shows and events to gallery openings, open air market on the historic Plaza, musical entertainment and theatre, art is the nucleus of life in Santa Fe. Even dining is treated as an art. Santa Fe’s classic culinary fare is a synthesis of all who have passed through – Indian, Spanish, artist and urban emigrant.
Shopping, history and museums, culture and the beautiful outdoors make Santa Fe a must-see on your travels through Northern New Mexico.

Red River
Reminiscent of the old mining days, this is a fun-loving town, as bustling and full of activity as the river that runs through it on its way down to the Big Rio (The Rio Grande). You can tell it’s a mountain town – richly forested peaks lift from the very highway, full of promise. Daytime, ski or visit the Carson National Forest and leave the evenings to dining and dancing. Nobody in the family will want to stay in the cabin once they’ve discovered the incredible selection of things to do. Right out the back door is the Wheeler Peak Wilderness Area, one of the greatest views in the state. High country adventure and shopping – how can you go wrong?

Eagle Nest
It’s been awhile since anyone seriously mined Baldy, and gambling here is a thing of the past, but there’s still gold in Eagle Nest Lake – it sports some of the best trout fishing in the state. Kokanee salmon join record-breaking rainbows and cutthroats in an effort to beguile locals and visitors alike out of their garlic marshmallows and rapallas. It is hard to imagine marinas and art shows in a place once booming with miners, saloon girls and card sharks although glimpses of them remain in the architecture, attitude and freedom-loving friendliness of the natives. You won’t need a fishing rod to enjoy this town – right at the top of New Mexico, at the base of snowy Wheeler Peak, the setting is magnificent and opportunities to enjoy it are all around you.

Chama
Chama is up in the far north, just south of the Colorado border. A high mountain valley up in the mystic San Juans, it’s a place of fantastic beauty, peaceful and rural, that still enjoys a traditional lifestyle. Pop over to Los Ojos where lovely woolens are still made in the old way by spinners and weavers using yarns produced from their own flocks. Or venture on a back-country snowmobile tour and get a taste of a world covered in white.

Clayton
It takes a little imagination to see Clayton as a mountain town in the literal sense of the word. It’s high enough in altitude, though, higher than most mountains east of the Mississippi. It was the jumping-off place for Santa Fe Trail traders who knew that in another day from Rabbit Ears, they’d see the mountains that were their destination, just islands in an ocean of prairie that grew bigger the closer they got.

Cimarron
Where cowboys tend the land and tumbleweeds blow across the open meadows… you’ll feel like you’ve been taken to the set of an old Western when you arrive in Cimarron. A major stop along the mountain leg of the Santa Fe Trail, Cimarron became the hub of a mining and ranching empire. Ranching continues as a major indusry in this modern day cowtown.
Before the Maxwell Land Grant, the territory was the hunting grounds of Jicarilla Apaches and Utes. Set your imagination loose on what it must have been like for trappers, traders, merchants, cowboys, miners and homesteaders arriving in the 1800s.
Much of Cimarron’s beauty is protected by the Colin Neblett Wildlife Area, the state’s largest. It includes Cimarron Canyon State Park, home to the amazing Palisades, vertical rock formations created about 40 million years ago, The Valle Vidal and E.S. Barker wildlife area.

Las Vegas
Las Vegas is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved outdoor museums, and after your first glance, you won’t wonder why. With nearly 1,000 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the architecture is stunning. There’s enough history in Las Vegas to keep the historian mesmerized for days.
The Santa Fe Trail brought commerce to Las Vegas in addition to earning her the reputation as the “Wildest of the Wild West.” In the late 1800s the first locomotive steamed into Las Vegas creating New Town, a booming metropolis east of the Old Town Plaza. Drop by Montezuma’s Castle, once a monastery, or visit Fort Union, established to protect wagon trains and trade caravans from attack.
The Wild West lives on.

This article appeared on page 13 of the 2008 print edition of SkiCountry.