Swirling Through the Taos Vortex
Northside at Taos
The town of Taos, New Mexico is a truly unique destination. This haven of artistic expression is filled with art galleries of all types, from sculpture to painting to photography, and beyond. The ancient adobe construction has created a gorgeous downtown with narrow streets that now bottleneck the press of modern traffic. The busy downtown area is swarmed by tourists vying to view the historical features, check out the art scene, and stumble into the tourist traps that have sprung up around those original attractions.
Taos can also feel like a very strange place. As you walk down the street, you'll pass gorgeous art studios filled with southwestern art, modern restaurants, and beautiful historic sites. But as you round the next corner, you'll often pass a boarded-up house, an overgrown lot, and a run-down hotel. It's a strange little town, and it's difficult to know what to make of it.
Outdoor Adventure in Taos
Devisadero Peak
The outdoor activities found here can seem similarly confusing. While some trailheads are chock-full of vehicles, if you head into the foothills above town, you'll be forced to rely heavily on FATMAP for navigation due to the minimal or non-existent trail markings. Authorized system trails mix with unmarked and unmaintained social trails to create a complicated web of singletrack. Some of these trails are fantastic, and others... are less so.
The diversity of the natural terrain, however, is absolutely unbelievable! Taos lies in a high desert valley abutting the base of the impressive Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Northern New Mexico. Flanking it to the west is the deep, rugged Rio Grande Gorge.
Rio Grande Gorge
As you head further into the mountains, the arid valley disappears and is replaced by towering peaks. As you go up in elevation, you'll quickly exchange sagebrush for aspen trees and towering pines. And if you choose to take the dead-end road that leads to Taos Ski Valley, you'll journey into the heart of the Sangres and to the base of the tallest peaks in the state of New Mexico.
Several different outdoor cultures collide near Taos. Down on the Rio Grande, boating (mostly rafting) reigns supreme. High in the peaks near Taos Ski Valley, hiking and peak climbing dominate in the summer. You'll find plenty of mountain bikers making the most of what trails are open and legal to ride, but the mountain biking scene carries a locals-only. I'm sure there are some rock climbers to be found playing around on the towering cliffs in the Rio Grande Gorge, too.
Experiencing Taos primarily through my mountain biking lens might have contributed to this perspective of general strangeness. Few concessions have been made for mountain bikers, but digging deep into the area yielded some true singletrack gems... along with a lot of challenging rides. It felt like the true gems of stunning, swoopy singletrack were fairly hidden, which is a delightful change from the crowded trails of Colorado. And there was so much more there that I didn't get to explore.
The ideal time of year to visit Taos depends entirely on which outdoor sport you choose and which trails you want to focus on. While my mid-June choice was perfect for heading high into the mountains, if you want to focus on the trails closer to the Rio Grande Gorge, late April or early May would be a much better choice.
Northside at Taos
Northside at Taos
By far my favorite experience near Taos was mountain biking the Northside at Taos trails, with views down on the Taos Ski Valley. The alpine meadows and stunning mountain views were worth every bit of the effort to get there! But this was the one mountain bike gem at the end of the road. Aside from one beginner downhill run at the ski resort, there’s no other riding to be down at Taos Ski Valley, and rumor has it that Northside, which is on private land, might possibly be getting shut down. But that’s the rumor mill for you…
My overall visit to Taos didn't rank very high on my list of trips and mountain bike destinations. That said, Taos now has a mental asterisk next to it that says, "come back in the spring, and see what there is to see."