ENCHANTING LOCALES

Long known as The Land of Enchantment, Northern New Mexico’s legendary villages may be the most enchanting of all.

 

THESE ANCIENT COMMUNITIES stretch from Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs in northwest Taos County to The Enchanted Circle communities of Taos, Questa and Red River, Colfax County’s Eagle Nest and Angel Fire and villages in between, including the ghost towns of Elizabethtown and Virginia City. 

Explore the designated, scenic 83-mile Enchanted Circle highway loop through mountains, valleys, mesas and national forest — so uniquely Northern New Mexico — some of which runs along the Río Grande Gorge to the west, then encircling Wheeler Peak, the highest point in the state, at 13,159 feet.

Ojo Caliente is a small community in Taos County off U.S. Highway 285 near the Río Grande, between Española and Taos, about 50 miles north of Santa Fe, a local and visitor getaway spa finally reopened to the public.

Highly therapeutic Enchanted Circle drives take two or three hours, including a food or drink stop here or there. From Taos, you can begin by traveling north to Questa on State Road 522, then take State Road 38 to Red River, Eagle Nest and Angel Fire and then return to Taos through Taos Canyon on U.S. Highway 64 — or begin the circle going east, toward Angel Fire.

Culture, history and outdoor recreation are alive and abundant around the Northern New Mexico’s enchanting communities, so get out on the road and get ready to discover what makes this region so spectacular.