Hiking Tour near Taos, NM

Today we had a guided excursion for hiking and sightseeing in the area.
Our first stop was a hike in the Rio Grande Gorge. It is in a park near where the Rio Grande River flows near Taos and has carved a huge gorge in the surrounding rock over time. The hike was not difficult and just about a mile out and back. Along the way we saw a lot of rock formations that were caused when the area was volcanic millenia ago. The flat rocky outcroppings are home to Longhorn Sheep. We did see 2 adult and 2 young sheep. They have long curved horns like a ram and are adapted to walk all around the rocky cliffsides that make up their home. At the end of the trail, there is a cliff overlooking the Rio Grande River hundreds of feet below. It was nice, quiet and we had the trail all to our group.
Then we made another stop at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It is one of the tallest bridges in the US and is made of steel construction. It was completed in 1965 and is 600 feet over the Rio Grande River. You cannot walk out onto the bridge for safety reasons. The state of New Mexico is going to install new railings to make it safe to walk across.
Our last stop was about 20 miles outside of Taos and is called 'Earthship' It is a completely off-grid community of homes that grow their own food, filter their water, use solar and wind energy and all the construction is from discarded products. The walls are made of discarded tires filled with adobe, stacked and filled with more adobe to form the walls. Some of the walls are make of can 'bricks' that are stacked and also covered with adobe. Bottles are used in the adobe walls to allow light in. The first Earthship was completed in 1972 and others have been build one by one ever since. As new Earthships are build they can be purchased starting at $400K. As of today, there are over 100 Earthships built and habitated.Read more