FOLLOWING THE HIGH ROAD:
AN ART JOURNEY

 

The High Road is a back-country, scenic route between Santa Fe and Taos leading visitors through high desert, mountains, forests, small farms, and tiny Spanish Land Grant villages. (The "low road" runs through the valleys along the Rio Grande.) Scattered along the way are the galleries and studios of artists and traditional artisans inspired by the beauty of their surroundings.

 

 

From Santa Fe, take US Highway 285/84 North. Just past Pojoaque Pueblo's Cities of Gold Casino and the turn to Los Alamos, go right at the light onto State Road (SR) 503 East. Follow this two-lane road as it begins in the Pojoaque (pronounced "poh-WAH-kay") River Valley and winds through lovely old Territorial adobes and idyllic horse pastures.

 

To the right, beyond the arroyo, are the homes of the people of Pojoaque Pueblo.

 

 

Along the way, you will pass the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Nambé. Although lovely, this church is not historic; it was built in the 1940s. Once you have passed the church, you are on Nambé Pueblo land (watch your speed!).

 

 

 

 

A little farther along, at Nambé Pueblo Road 101 (on the right), there are signs to Nambé Falls and Recreation Area. Along this road you will also see a right turn to the old pueblo plaza. (If you turn here, please be considerate; you are entering the home of the native people. Photos are not permitted.) Founded in the 14th century, Nambé means "People of the Round Earth" in Tewa, their native language. The pueblo plaza is a registered National Historic Landmark. Weathering, neglect, and ill-considered efforts to change the roof of the original San Francisco de Nambé church caused it to collapse, so the people built a new church in 1975.

Until about 1830, Nambé was known for a pottery style called Nambé Polychrome. Today, pottery is making a comeback, especially black-on-black and red-on-white. Weaving is also reemerging. At the plaza, turn around and return to the road. The pueblo encompasses 19,000 acres of land with waterfalls, lakes, and mountainous areas. Turn right to continue to Nambé Falls. There are charges for entrance, taking photos, camping, and fishing; check the website.

 

After returning to State Road 503 and turning right, you will pass through the pink and green rolling hills of the “badlands.” with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background. In the evening, the setting sun turns the mountains red, perhaps inspiring their name (“Blood of Christ”). This land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. There are old trails along the highway, and in many places it is easy to pass over or through the barbed wire to hike or bike these trails. Be careful to close any gates; they keep grazing cattle from escaping onto the road (but be aware that cattle can be a road hazard). (Cyclists, beware of sharp burrs.)

 

At 7.5 miles, watch for the easy-to-miss left turn onto SR 98 (Juan Medina Road), which will take you to Chimayó and its famous Santuario. Continue across the open, rolling high desert until it dips down to the green, farming valley of Chimayó. Turn right onto Santuario Road and turn into the parking lot below (handicapped cars can continue on to the parking lot by the church). Park and walk up the path.

Built between 1811 and 1814, the Santuario de Chimayó is beloved by people of all faiths. During Easter week, tens of thousands of pilgrims come from all over the United States and Mexico in search of healing and miracles. Notice the original reredos, or paintings of saints on wooden slabs propped against the walls. These were done by some of the most famous santeros ("painters of saints") in New Mexico. Be sure to get a bit of sacred dirt from the posito ("little well") in a room to the left of the main altar. It is said to bring miracles.

Also be sure to visit the little shops in the vicinity of the Santuario. The food at Leona's is wonderful, and there are some delightful little galleries.

There is also another chapel, the Santo Niño Chapel. In 1857, Severiano Medina traveled to the shrine of the Santo Niño de Atocha in Mexico and brought back a statue to Chimayó. He built a chapel in honor of the Santo Niño near the Santuario. It remained a private chapel until recently, when the Catholic Church took it over and renovated it. Most of the art inside is new but exquisitely crafted. The Santo Niño is said to go about at night performing miracles and wearing out his little shoes, so visitors bring him baby shoes.

 

A little further on, you will come to the Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante, famous for its lovely, old building and Northern New Mexico food. Chimayó was founded when the Spanish returned after the Pueblo Revolt, bringing many new colonists from Mexico. Originally the settlement centered around a fortified plaza, the Plaza del Cerro. The Spanish dug acequias (irrigation canals), built adobe homes, and raised crops and farm animals. They also began a centuries-old tradition of weaving, still maintained in Chimayo by some of the original families. Visit some of the weaving shops to see them in action using the huge old looms.

 

State Road 98 ends at the junction with SR 76. You may wish to turn left and visit more of the artists’ galleries and studios in Chimayó. The High Road turns right here and begins the climb into the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the little villages that house the artists of the High Road.

First is Córdova, a collection of narrow streets above a pretty green river valley. Look for the sign to Córdova on your right. A very short drive takes you into the village and back to SR 76.

Founded by settlers expanding from the Chimayó valley, Córdova became famous as the home of the Córdova School of woodcarving pioneered by José Dolores López in the 1920s. This style, still carried on by his descendants, features "bultos" (statues of saints) that were, for the first time, unpainted. Instead, they were intricately carved and showed off the striking grain and natural shape of woods such as juniper, aspen, ash, and cedar. (Castillo Gallery carries a selection of work by local carvers.)

 

Continue the climb to the top of the high mesa ahead and the village of Truchas, a scattering of pink adobes at the top of the world, backed by the snow-touched Truchas Peaks. Along the way, you will see the campo santo, or graveyard, where the dead have a magnificent view.

The colony of Truchas was established by a royal land grant in 1754 with settlers from Chimayó and Santa Cruz (near Española). It purpose was to create a buffer between other Spanish settlements and the nomadic Apache and Comanche bands who often raided both Spanish villages and Indian pueblos. Hence, it was built as a walled compound around a plaza.

 

 

The courageous and hardy settlers of Truchas hand-dug miles of acequias (irrigation ditches) to bring water from the trout-filled river that gave the town its name (Río de las Truchas means "river of trout"). Although today's residents still work their farms, many also commute to jobs in Santa Fe or Los Alamos. A few still make their living as traditional craftspeople alongside the many outstanding Anglo artists and galleries that have been drawn to Truchas and its magnificent mountain views.

 

 

 

State Road 76 turns left as you enter Truchas, but first, go straight into the village on County Road 75. Here are numerous galleries, open studios, and a community site showing the work of several artists. Enjoy local cuisine along the way and at the new Back Country Bar and Cantina. Go back and take the turn made by SR 76 toward Taos, where you’ll see the High Road MarketPlace artists’ co-op immediately on your left.

 

 

 

 

 

A short drive through the Carson National Forest takes you to a series of very small villages. First is Ojo Sarco, believed to be named for a spring in a nearby cañada. The name was sometimes spelled Ojo Zarco. "Ojo" means "spring" and "zarco" means "light blue". Look for the well-known Ojo Sarco Pottery Studio and several other galleries in Ojo Sarco.

 

 

 

Continue on to Las Trampas, founded in 1751 by a royal land grant, entitled Santo Tomás Apostol del Río de las Trampas ("Saint Thomas, Apostle of the River of Traps"). Despite the heavy toll taken by a smallpox epidemic and raids by Plains Indians, the village survived and the settlers managed to build the magnificent San José de Gracia Church, completed in 1776.

 

The church is considered a model of the Spanish colonial church architecture found throughout New Mexico. It has lovely reredos painted by well-known santeros. The church is a National Historic Landmark, and the village is a is a National Historic District. The building across from the church with the little bell tower was the school.

 

As you leave Las Trampas, there is a cooperative weaving studio on your left. On the right is an old Spanish aqueduct with a wooden flume, or canoa ("canoe"), still in use as part of the acequia system, which still brings waters to the fields and pastures of Las Trampas .

 

 

 

 

 

 

State Road 76 continues through the Carson National Forest. Look for signs that lead off to El Valle and Ojito, both settled by colonists from Las Trampas. Both are accessed by lovely scenic drives through the Carson National Forest.

 

 

 

The next village on SR 76 is Chamisal. It, too, was settled by Spanish villagers moving out from Las Trampas; all of these villages lie within the Las Trampas land grant. Chamisal is named for the "chamisa" shrub (rabbitbrush) which turns golden in late summer. Chamisal Creek flows northwest to join the Peñasco River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a pretty church in the village of Chamisal (follow the sign to the old plaza), and there are a few galleries and studios along State Road 76.

 

 

 

When SR 76 ends at a stop sign, the High Road turns right onto State Road 75. However, turn left to visit Picurís Pueblo. Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate called these people "pikuria"—those who paint. Before the Spanish came, Picuris was one of the largest and most powerful of the pueblos, located at the confluence of two rivers and on a major pass that leads through the mountains to the Great Plains in the east. This strategic location made it a key site for trade with the Apaches, but once the Comanches arrived and the Spanish brought horses, the pueblo became vulnerable to attack. The fierce Picurís continued to fight the Spanish even after the Reconquest, and lost many members of the tribe as a result.

 

Like Taos, Picurís is a Tiwa pueblo. Picurís today, while small, has a thriving buffalo herd and runs the lovely Hotel Santa Fe in Santa Fe. It is known for its gold-hued micaceous pottery (featuring flecks of shiny mica). When the 200-year-old San Lorenzo de Picuris church collapsed in 1989 due to water damage, pueblo members rebuilt it by hand. San Lorenzo Feast Day is August 10. Please get permission before taking photos anywhere on the pueblo.

 

Return to State Road 75 and follow it back into Peñasco. The villages of Llano San Juan, Llano Largo, and Santa Barbara in the Peñasco area were first settled by Spanish colonists in 1796, the same year as Taos. Today the town of Peñasco serves residents in the many charming villages and rural areas surrounding it, as well as the residents of Picurís Pueblo. It offers several art galleries and the Sugar Nymphs Bistro, featured in Gourmet magazine as one of the country’s best restaurants.

 

Leaving Peñasco, the road makes a wide curve to the left, but keep going straight to take State Road 73 into a beautiful river valley flanked by steep mesas. The definition of a "llano" is a "broad, treeless plain," but Llano San Juan and Llano de La Yegua are charming, lush green valleys. (They can be seen as green jewels even from a great distance on Google Earth or Google Maps satellite view.) They encapsulate the charm of all of the New Mexico High Road villages: old adobes, grazing horses, golden meadows, wildflowers, vestiges of a centuries-old way of life.

 

Go back the way you came, toward Peñasco, and at the stop sign take a right turn back onto SR 75. You will pass through the village of Vadito, which means "little ford." There is not much of a town; most of the homes and farms of this rural community follow the river valley on both sides of the road. On the north end, look for the sign for Mundo Viejo gallery.

 

(Note: Forest Road 469, on the north side of the road, branches off into Forest Road 3, which is part of the old Spanish Camino Real, or "Royal Road." )

 

 

 

Beyond Vadito, enjoy the drive through the lovely valley of Placita. At the “stone wall” intersection, the High Road turns left onto State Road 518 to Ranchos de Taos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, first turn right on SR 518 to Sipapu Ski Resort and Recreation Area on the Rio Pueblo. It was started in 1952 by Lloyd Bolander and has operated continuously for 52 years. Sipapu has a peak elevation of 9,255 feet . It is also popular as a cool summer getaway and offers disk golf and a geocache. The drive to Sipapu through the Carson National Forest is one of the most scenic and offers many trails and fishing spots. Don’t miss it!

 

Return and continue along SR 518 through the valleys and vistas of the Carson National Forest. Eventually you will come to the last High Road village, Talpa. Talpa is an ancient site; pit houses and pueblos were built here from 1100 to 1300. It was settled by Spanish colonists in the early 1700s. The name, which means "knob," may refer to a formation in one of Talpa's little canyons. Like the rest of the High Road, Talpa has a number of artists.

 

Although the High Road officially ends where SR 518 meets SR 68 in Ranchos de Taos, perhaps the best place to end your High Road journey is at the famous San Francisco de Asís church a few blocks south. This lovely church is probably one of the most painted and photographed churches in the nation—and what's more unusual is that it's the back of the church that everyone loves so much. It was famously painted by Georgia O'Keeffe and photographed by Paul Strand and Ansel Adams.

 

 

Completion of construction of the San Francisco de Asís Church took from 1772 to 1815. Inside, the "Shadow of the Cross" painting by Henri Ault (1896) sheds an eerie luminescence that surprised even the painter. There is a very nice little gift shop on the north side.

 

 

 

If you choose to follow the High Road coming from Taos, take SR 518 (a left turn at the south of town) and follow it through the beautiful Carson National Forest, with its spectacular views, to the intersection with SR 75. Keep straight on to visit the Sipapu recreation area, and then return to the intersection and turn left to go to Vadito and on to Peñasco. The High Road is equally wonderful from either direction. Now you will have “done” the High Road. If it was your first time, it won’t be your last!