The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is a New Mexico Scenic Byway and National Forest Scenic Byway located in Northern New Mexico. It begins and ends in

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

Route description

The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway makes a loop through Taos following four main highways:18 NMAC 31.2 New Mexico Scenic and Historic Byways Program.
Transportation and Highways. New Mexico Legislation. Filed February 27, 1998. Effective July 31, 1998. Retrieved August 10, 2014.Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway.
New Mexico Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 11, 2014. * U.S. Route 64 between Eagle Nest and

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colo ...

* NM 522 between Taos and

Questa Questa is a village in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,770 at the 2010 census. The village has trails into the Rio Grande Gorge, trout fishing, and mountain lakes with trails that access the Sangre de Cristo Mount ...

* NM 38 between Questa, the Red River Valley and Eagle Nest * NM 434 between Eagle Nest and Angel Fire The byway encircles Wheeler Peak () of the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains ) , country= United States , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= Rocky Mountains , geology= , orogeny= , area_mi2= 17193 , range_coordinates= , length_mi= 242 , length_orientation= north-south , width_mi= 120 , w ...

. It is the tallest mountain in New Mexico. The scenic byway passes through historic towns, alongside lakes and streams, and near ski resorts and recreational parks.Enchanted Circle Scenic byway
Legends of America. Retrieved August 10, 2014.

Taos

In Taos is its

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

of old adobe buildings. Within the town are the

Taos Plaza Taos Plaza is a center of shops and monuments within the Taos Downtown Historic District in Taos, New Mexico. Overview The Taos Plaza is the historic center of the town of Taos. Once a Spanish fortified walled plaza with houses and businesses, it ...

, homes of historic figures, galleries, shops and the ancient

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...

. Recreational opportunities include rafting on the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

North of Taos

North of Taos, NM 522 meets NM 38 at

, where Red River recreational opportunities include picnic facilities, fishing, and self-guided tours. The town of Questa is known for its artisans whose works are found at the Artesanos de Questa and historic santos and

retablo A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art. More generally ''retablo'' is also the Spanish term for a retable or reredos above an altar, whether ...

s are at the St. Anthony's Church. Northeast of Questa, the Rio Grande and Red Rivers intersect in the

Wild Rivers Recreation Area Wild Rivers Recreation Area is located in north central New Mexico within the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Two rivers that run through the park, the Rio Grande and Red River are National Wild and Scenic Rivers. NM 378 that traverses ...

. East of Qesta is the Red River Valley—where there had been copper, lead, silver and gold mining. The town of Red River offers staged gunfights, shopping, a ski resort, and a mining museum. Traveling east on

New Mexico State Road 38 State Road 38 (NM 38) is a state highway in Taos and Colfax counties in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its total length is approximately . It traverses the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through portions of Carson National Forest and Moreno Valley ...

(NM 38) is

Bobcat Pass Bobcat Pass is a mountain pass located in Taos County, New Mexico on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway. Geography At in elevation, it is the highest mountain pass in New Mexico. It is located on NM 38 between Eagle Nest, New Mexico and Red Rive ...

() which leads into the Moreno Valley and a view of the north side of Mount Wheeler.

Eastern end

At the eastern edge of the scenic byway is Moreno Valley, which lies between Eagle Nest and Angel Fire. At the southernmost point of the valley is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park. A ski resort and golf course are located south of the park on NM 434 in the village of Angel Fire. The ski resort's chairlift is used during the summer by hikers, sightseers and mountain bikers. From Angel Fire, west on US 64 is the

Palo Flechado Pass Palo Flechado Pass (Spanish language, Spanish: "tree pierced with arrows"),Palo Flechado Pass.
...

() with a distant view of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

. Campsites, canyon trails, picnic areas, and artist's studios are located in the Canyon of the Rio Fernando de Taos.

History

Early trails

The earliest trails used by

Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...

and

Puebloan people The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...

s were those created by buffalo and were followed for hunting. The buffalo were considered "the best civil engineers in the world" for their ability to find the easiest, lowest paths through the mountains. The Old Kiowa Trail, still used today by Native Americans on horseback, is at the base of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. An old Navajo Trail criss-crossed the Rio Grande before heading west at Warmsley Crossing (

John Dunn Bridge John Dunn Bridge is located in Arroyo Hondo in north-central New Mexico. It crosses the Rio Grande near the confluence of the Rio Hondo. It was built in 1908 by John Dunn who transported travelers and mail into Taos and housed travelers overnigh ...

at Arroyo Hondo) There were additional trails that radiated out of Taos

Blanche Grant Blanche Chloe Grant (1874–1948) was an American artist, magazine illustrator and author. She is remembered as a muralist as well as a painter of American Indians. Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, she studied at Vassar College, at the School of the ...

(August 2007)
''When Old Trails Were New.''
Sunstone Press. p. 44. . from

.Best Books on; Federal Writers' Project (1940).
New Mexico, a Guide to the Colorful State
'. Best Books on. p. 220. .

Trails of the 19th century

A key trail into Taos was " The Old Taos Trail", which began at the Bent's Fort on the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

in Colorado, west of the

Spanish Peaks The Spanish Peaks are a pair of prominent mountains located in southwestern Huerfano County, Colorado, Huerfano County, Colorado. The Comanche people, Comanche people call them Huajatolla ( ) or Wa-to-yah meaning "double mountain". The two peak ...

, through

Sangre de Cristo Pass Sangre de Cristo Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the U.S. State of Colorado. The pass is located immediately north of U.S. Highway 160 one half mile (800 m) northwest of North La Veta Pass. The pass s ...

(west of Walsenburg, Colorado), Old La Veta Pass and into

area (NM 522/NM38 area). It came into Taos at either Taos Pueblo road or half a mile west on Couse Hill. Another route into Taos was along the Cimarron Route. It was this route that most wagon trains entered into the Rio de Fernando canyon valley.

(August 2007)
''When Old Trails Were New.''
Sunstone Press. p. 45. . The two routes are the "mountain route" and the "Cimarron Route" of the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

. One of the Cimarron Mountain Routes paralleled the present U.S. Route 64 from I-25 to Cimarron. Trails branched off of the Cimarron Route into several communities. A branch of the route from Bent's Fort went into Taos in or after the founding of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. The first wagon train was led by Charles Bent in 1831. Bent, the brother of

William Bent William Wells Bent (May 23, 1809 – May 19, 1869) was a frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United St ...

of Bent's Fort, became the most successful merchant in Taos before being made governor of New Mexico.

Highways from the 20th century

History of individual highways: * U.S. Route 64. In 1927 the road into Taos from the northeast was highway 485, a branch of 85 from Raton, New Mexico. It ran south east from Cimarron to Taos and continued south to Santa Fe. In 1931, U.S. 485 was replaced by U.S. Route 64. In 1974 the route of 64 changed from Taos, and rather than taking a southerly route, it traveled north and west over the mountains of Tres Piedras, replacing the former NM 111 and NM 553 highways. * New Mexico State Road 38. The highway was named NM 38 in or before 1912 for the road between Questa and Eagle Nest. * New Mexico State Road 434. The road runs south from U.S. Route 64 south to

Mora Mora may refer to: People * Mora (surname) Places Sweden * Mora, Säter, Sweden * Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality * Mora Municipality, Sweden United States * Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community * Mora, Minnesota, a city * M ...

. It was a part of NM-38 when the highway was extended south of Eagle Nest by 1917 and at least into the 1950s. It was renumbered to NM 434 in 1988 to eliminate a concurrent section with U.W. 64 and NM 38. * New Mexico State Road 522. It was New Mexico State Road 3 from 1930. It was renumbered NM 522 in 1988. North of Costilla at the Colorado state line it becomes CO Highway 159.

Scenic byway designation

The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway was made one of the New Mexico Scenic Byways on July 31, 1998. It was designated a National Forest Scenic Byway by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

on December 14, 1989.

Gallery

File:Questa, Taos County, New Mexico-1943.jpg,

in 1943 File:Red River Valley, high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in Northern New Mexico.jpg,

Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...

File:Taos ski valley2.jpg,

Taos Ski Valley Taos Ski Valley is a village and alpine ski resort in the southwestern United States, located in Taos County, New Mexico. The population was 69 at the 2010 census. Until March 19, 2008, it was one of four ski resorts in America to prohibit sn ...

File:Boating on Eagle Nest Lake, NM Picture 1974.jpg, Boating on Eagle Nest Lake File:Taos plaza la fonda.jpg,

File:Angel Fire 2.JPG, Angel Fire File:Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway.jpg, Red River's recreation area

Popular culture

The movies '' Easy Rider'' and ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'' were filmed in the area.

Notes

References

External links

Enchanted Circle Scenic byway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway National Forest Scenic Byways New Mexico Scenic and Historic Byways U.S. Route 64