Day 7 – The High Road to Taos

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One of the great things about New Mexico are the routes and trails that are named and designated by their character – the Salt Missions Trail, the Turquoise Trail, the Trail of the Ancients. Today it was the High Road to Taos. This route angles a bit northwest of Santa Fe and then swings in a gentle curve to the northeast and eventually into Taos. I did the route from Taos to Santa Fe a few years ago with a friend and found it visually stunning and capped off with a most unusual visit to American Lourdes – Chimayo. This time we made the route from Santa Fe to Taos and in that direction the visual is a bit less dramatic. Still beautiful and a slow routing that will help you let go of troubles.



A stop in Chimayo is a pilgrimage. It is about healing and trusting that there are powers greater than we are that can help us manifest positive change. Chimayo is a powerful emotional stop. I don’t understand entirely why it is so emotional, but my closest understanding of how overpowering it is comes from being surrounded by people in so many types of pain who are laying out their souls to something greater then themselves. It is in the moment of this feeling that I think the spirit lives and I am saddened to think that so many take the essence of spirituality and corrupt it into evil acts.

We arrive in Taos and somehow end up at El Monte Sagrado – a boutique resort that is one of about 10 ‘hotels’ started by a man with an art collection. I had planned to camp in Cimmaron to the northeast of Taos, but somehow we ended up with staggering rates that compelled us to stop the truck. They serve perhaps the second or third best Old Fashioned I’ve had this year. As we all know, it is the year of the Old Fashioned. El Monte Sagrado rates high on the list and to top it all off, they serve carpaccio. I know where we will be dining the next night as well.


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eircao

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