WI-FI AND CELLULAR SERVICE
The cellular service is surprisingly good throughout the Enchanted Circle. Many hotels and lodges and cabins as well as coffeehouses and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi, so you should be able to catch up on news and emails. You may use up a lot of data when you drive out of Wi-Fi range, so you may want to put your phone on airplane mode until you can get service again.
RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
MOUNTAIN BIKING AND ROAD CYCLING
The Enchanted Circle is one of the mountain biking meccas of the Southwest, including Angel Fire, Taos Ski Valley, Red River, and too numerous forest roads and trails to name. You will find a number of bike shops that can provide info, gear, lessons, advice, and guides.
The road riding of the area is as underrated as it is challenging. The rides offer epic scenery and world-class climbing, but the roads are not entirely bike friendly—often rough and narrow with little or no shoulder. Since the roads are rough, be prepared by bringing spare tubes and a patch kit. Bring enough water because the summer days can get hotter than you think.
The Enchanted Circle offers rides that range from short, town loops to several century options. You can get more info from several bike shops. As anywhere, crime can happen, so be on the safe side and bring a lock.
The Angel Fire Resort’s trails are a biker’s paradise. (Photo credit: Michael Fiore, Outdoor Element Sports.)
OFF-ROADING 4WD/ATV/OHV
Visitors enjoy a lot of options for off-roading and jeeping around the Enchanted Circle, but Red River, Angel Fire, and Questa are the heavily favored spots. Plenty of businesses rent jeeps and OHVs but you can also hire guides.
Red River is an ideal place to go four-wheel exploring because of all the old mining roads and forest service roads in any direction from town. This area has so much public land that you have hundreds of miles of trails. Escorted tours are available, or if you prefer you can go it alone along a series of well-marked area trails. Explore old mining camps and drive along canyon rivers through alpine environments. Take care not to hurt the land because at this altitude, scars on the land take years, sometimes centuries, to heal. So stay on the marked trails, minimize wheel spin, don’t gouge the trail, and avoid mud when possible to avoid rutting. Cross streams only at designated fording points where the trail crosses the stream.
Go alone or hire local tour operators. Guided tours are an ideal way for families to safely learn the history, natural history, ghost stories, and other lore on their trip. Trips to abandoned cabins and gold mines—and gold panning—are often part of the experience.
HIKING AND BACKPACKING
If you want to hike into history, backpack into wilderness, or trek through some of the most breathtaking scenery you’ve ever seen, then you’re in the right area. From the Bureau of Land Management sites to national monuments, state parks to national forests, you can find everything from an easy hour-long hike to a multi-day backpacking trek.
Because you are hiking in wild country, you must be prepared for any number of contingencies: snakes, mountain lions, bears, sudden and inclement weather, getting lost, sprained ankles, heat exhaustion, dehydration, and trail closures. Get the appropriate maps—yes, real paper maps—and look them over, study them. Put them in your pocket in case your GPS doesn’t work. Check with experts or shops before you go to learn about up-to-date conditions. Know before you go. Be prepared and don’t hike alone. Imagine the worst and prepare.
On longer or more difficult hikes, pack some extra food and water, and bring a way to purify water. One of the biggest dangers of the Enchanted Circle hikes is dehydration, especially at lower elevations where it can get much hotter than you ever thought. Although the rivers and springs look clean, they are not clean enough for drinking. You do not want to catch “beaver fever” or Giardiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite called Giardia lamblia. You can be laid up for days with diarrhea and fever.
Backpackers and their four-legged pal traverse the trail toward Williams Lake.
Changes in weather can happen rapidly, so while you may see a clear blue sky and think, “I can leave behind my rain jacket or fleece,” you do so at your own peril. Put a jacket in your light backpack or wrap one around your waist. You’re gonna need it.
At lower elevations, encountering snakes—specifically, rattlesnakes—is always a possibility. When you grab a rock to pull yourself up, be aware that in that hole a rattler might live.
Walking sticks or poles are not always necessary but help to maintain balance in uneven and loose footing. Although Enchanted Circle trails, lower and higher elevations alike, are well maintained, there are enough holes and loose rocks that if you aren’t cognizant, an accident can happen suddenly and ruin your hike. So no matter what hike, take plenty of water, snacks, a small first aid kit, and buddies, and alert others when and where you go. Sign in if there is a sign-in sheet. If you backpack, make sure you learn about where you can camp and where you can start a fire.
HOT AIR BALLOONING
The air balloon outfitters will soar high in the blue sky and drop into or over the gorge, over the mesa, and above the mountains. They offer sunrise balloon trips, champagne balloon trips, or customized trips. They have a great safety record. You can bring a camera or video cam and see things from a new perspective, looking down on the world to see exquisite panoramas of the Taos Valley.
A horseback riding group makes its way back to the stables after a trail ride near Angel Fire.
HORSEBACK RIDING
Numerous outfitters and ranches offer various horseback riding excursions ranging from a one-hour ride to backcountry overnight trips.
LLAMA TREKKING
Several outfitters will pack llamas with gear and hike you into the pristine wilderness. You can just go for a day picnic or camp overnight or for a few days. Llamas are sweet, gentle, fun animals that will help provide unique family fun for single-day and multi-day adventures. They’re a great way to enjoy ecotourism. Guides will teach you about flora and fauna, history, and geography.
WINTER SPORTS
Types of winter sports include downhill skiing, snowboarding, UTV snowcat skiing, sleighing, sledding, ice skating, and ice fishing. Choose from Taos Ski Resort, Angel Fire Ski Resort, Red River Ski Resort, Sipapu Ski Resort, and Enchanted Forest, and then you’ve got snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, back-basin skiing, and more. It’s a winter wonderland. At each ski resort, you can enjoy great après-ski, live music, restaurants, cafés, and bars. If you go into the backcountry, take the time to learn about avalanche safety.
Taos Ski Valley offers all types of wintertime sports.
CUISINE
of Northern New Mexico
One of the major draws to the Enchanted Circle is the food. The cuisine