Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Study Area

Columbine-Hondo. This wilderness area is in a mountain basin, located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southern-most chain of the Rocky Mountains. From the late 1800s to the beginning of the twentieth century, miners and prospectors traveled a trail in this area between the gold camps of the Red River Valley and the mining camp of Twining (now Taos Ski Valley) as part of the New Mexican Gold Rush. The area is an important source of clean water for the central Rio Grande passage way in New Mexico, providing water for two of the larger Rio Grande tributaries–the Red River and the Rio Hondo. The area also waters many acequias (irrigation ditches) used by the local agricultural community. Spanish settlers used the area for seasonal sheep grazing and cultivation since the 16th century. I need to explore the area further. The part I saw consisted mostly of alpine tundra at upper elevations and had seen fire and drought. It is also early spring; and many shrubs are just beginning to show new growth. Lower elevations covered with juniper and Douglas fir, part of the Carson National Forest, were scenic.

John Dunn Bridge. On the way back to Taos, I drove over John Dunn Bridge. John Dunn's (1857-1953) purchase, with money he won at the poker table, of the toll bridge across the Rio Grande near Arroyo Hondo in 1900 gave him a monopoly on road travel in and out of Taos. Today, it's a popular fishing and swimming spot. Dunn himself lived through three periods of the West: the gun fighting, cattle working, and present modern Western eras. His home still stands filled with shops in the heart of the tourist district between Bent Street and Taos Plaza. It's a beautiful drive through this part of the gorge (itself 90 miles long and in places almost 1,000 feet deep).