We were on the road early to head to Colorado. As we drove
north from Ojo Caliente, we saw lots of locals picking something from the
roadside conifer forests. Maybe some kind of pine nuts. We travelled through
the New Mexico adobe towns and as we headed into the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains, the scenery changed suddenly to forests.
A mix of conifers and deciduous
trees that are turning an iridescent yellow with the fall colours. The houses
also changed from the red and pink adobe flat roof houses to log cabins with steep
pitched roof lines.
As we continued to climb into the mountains, we drove
through the Angel Fire ski resort at around 8500 feet, adjacent to New Mexico’s
highest peak (13161ft – 4000 meters, or 4km).
The road finally descended to the plains as we followed the historic
Santa Fe trail north. We took a detour to see the Capulin Volcano, an ancient
cinder cone that pretty much goes straight up 1300 ft from the plain to top out
at 8200 ft.
It was a steep drive up around the volcano in a spiral to the car
park at the rim. We hiked the rim trail and were rewarded with 360 degree
views. On a clear day you can see 5 states – New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado
and Arizona. It was just amazing to see just how far you can see across the
plains.
Leaving Capulin we headed north again and are camped up at
Trinidad, just over the Colorado border.
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