Month: September 2022

We started our stay in Taos with a trip to the farmer’s market where we realized we had come to New Mexico during green chile harvest season! We got freshly roasted green chiles, along with a lot of seasonal goodies and baked goods: we were in absolute heaven! Afterwards we wandered through the local shops before heading back to make dinner: a mushroom and poblano fritatta with a big green salad.

The next morning we got an early start and headed north to hike the Big Arsenic trail, where we descended into a canyon to the Rio Grande. It was arduous (839ft from canyon rim to canyon floor) but we were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the river and a number of petroglyphs. We treated ourselves to lunch at Taos Mesa Brewing before heading home to take advantage of the high elevation and clear skies to photograph the sunset and the night sky.

This morning Meg woke up at 6:15 am to run the 1.8 mile Bosque River Loop trail. It was beautiful just after sunrise and she kept pausing to take photos! After Meg’s run, we arrived at the spa soaking pools just as they opened at 7:30am. It was extremely tranquil and we shared the pools with only about 10 other people. After a luxurious soak and mud bath, we treated ourselves to breakfast (blue corn piñon pancakes for Meg & breakfast taco’s for Matt) and delicious coffee from the resort restaurant. Our hour-long drive to Taos went smoothly, we got settled in our traditional adobe-style AirBnB, and enjoyed dinner on the patio at a local restaurant.

Our room at Ojo Caliente is extremely luxurious and includes our own patio hot spring soaking pool. We think this might be the fanciest hotel room we’ve ever had. After a very good night of sleep, we started our day with a visit to the hot spring pools. The air temperature was cool in the morning, and it wasn’t too busy, so we enjoyed a nice soak. Afterwards we hiked to the Joseph Mica Mines, a 4-mile out and back trail. As we approached the mine (three holes cut in the cliff side) all the rocks began to sparkle. After the hike we revisit the hot springs and got takeout dinner from the resort restaurant.