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Welcome
to New Mexico Honda Sport Touring  |
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Welcome
to New Mexico Honda Sport Touring |
Club Contacts
Karl Zuercher (505) 822-1362: XXTH24A@prodigy.com,
Gregory Starr (505) 344-6472: starr@unm.edu.
The latest event info - STAR 98 Taos, NM
Want to see some sights and ride some good roads while your in New Mexico?
Here's the plan. Northern New Mexico and southern Colorado are the places to be. Ride north out of Taos on ST HWY 522/US 64 and turn west on US 64 across the Rio Grande Gorge bridge. Completed in 1964, this bridge sits about 600 feet above the water, almost as high as the Marble Canyon brige across the Colorado River at Page, Arizona. Take the time to park the bikes and walk out to the center of the span for a spectacular view. If you stand still, you can feel the structure move beneath your feet from traffic or wind.
Continue west on 64 to the small town of Tres Piedras (Three Rocks). Just befrore you get to the only traffic light in town, at US 285, you cross the roadbed for an old narrow guage railway that was once linked to the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) line, known to locals as the "Chili Line" It once served the small communities from Santa Fe to Alamosa, Colorado. It was abandoned in 1941, and though most everything is gone, you can still see the raised, graded rail bed and a watering tower on the north edge of Tres Piedras.
Continue heading west on 64 is when the fun really starts. Starting into some really beautiful scenery, the road climbs steadily through the Carson National Forest on good pavement with wide sweepers up to around 10,000 feet at the lookouts for the Brazos Cliffs and the Chama River valley. Photo ops abound all along the road. The road drops from the lookouts towards Tierra Amarilla with switchbacks through Pine and Aspen trees, which makes for a great ride in the fall! Watch for the occasional cattle on the road, and the trail of "green ice" that they invariably leave behind.
You can bypass the quaint village of Tierra Amarilla, and head north on 64/285, or you can take a quick detour to the Rio Arriba County Courthouse, that was the site of a brief, militant takeover complete with it's own shootout back in the middle 1960's by a band of local land grant advocates. Just north you can stop by the Tierra Wools weavers shop in Los Ojos.
Go North 12 miles to the town of Chama, the western terminus of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway, formerly part of the D&RGW. Once part of the same line as the more famous Silverton Train, this railroad runs higher, 10,022 at Cumbres Pass, is slightly longer, and goes through a tunnel in the Toltec Gorge. It's worth the trip, but usually requires advance reservations. You can start in Chama or Antonito,CO take a train halfway to Osier, CO, and return to your original departure point, or you can take the train the whole way and return to you starting point by bus. The narrow guage had been running from Antonito to Durango through Chama, Aztec, and Farmington, NM. It ceased operations in 1964 and this section of the railroad was purchased jointly by Colorado and New Mexico. Spend some time looking around the rail yard and few shops in Chama. There are several good restaurants in town.
Once you are ready, head northeast out of town on ST 17 up Cumbres Pass. The road follows the railroad very closely and if the timing is right you will have several spectacular photo opportunities. One of the best is the train climbing a very steep section, clinging to a rock cliff, just before it reaches Cumbres Pass, known as Windy Point. From here you leave the railroad for a while. Crossing La Manga Pass at 10,230 feet, you eventually meet up with the Conejos River, following it most of the way into Antonito.
From Antonito, CO you can return to Taos via US285 and 64 across the Gorge bridge, for a round trip of 201 miles, or go north a few miles into the San Luis Valley, to Manassa, CO, the hometown of "Manassa Mauler" Jack Demsey, east on CO 142 to the town of San Luis, and then south to Taos by CO 159 and NM 522 for a total of 266 miles.
