Ski Taos
It snowed most of the night. The temperature dropped to 25F at the resort and I stayed nice and toasty in the car. Around 5:30 I was awakened by a loud sound. They were blasting on the backside of the mountain to reduce the chance of avalanches. By 7:00 am the blast was much closer and much louder. The dogs in the camping area were howling by now.
There was an inch of wet snow on the car, not the 12 inches of powered people predicted. People were calling the snow powder which was certainly not the case. I rolled out of the car around 7:30 am. I put on a pair of crocks and tried to avoid water puddles. It took me an hour to get things packed, eat and get my clothing sorted. I drove closer to the village and walked in.
The Cottams Thunderbird ski rental shop opened at 8:00 am. They had kept my equipment overnight, including my boots, which were nice and toasty when I put them on. I stopped to get a coffee and a pastry at Cid'S Mountain Market.
After taking the main lift from the village center, I spent nearly six hours skiing. Justin's goggles were a godsend, as they protected my eyes from the bright sun and blowing snow. Admittedly, it had been before COVID that I skied, so it took me about two hours to get my ski legs back under me. The mountain had plenty of challenging black diamond runs, and I managed to make it down the first one with burning thighs. To fully experience the mountain, I made a point to ski down as many different slopes as possible. However, I decided to steer clear of skiing through the trees and opted to stick to open terrain.
As noon approached, I noticed my legs were adapting to the bumpy terrain and felt confident enough to attempt more challenging black diamond runs. After studying the map, I found a trail that ran close to an easier trail with what I thought were many points of exit if my legs began to fatigue. However, to my surprise, the exit points only allowed access to the black diamond run. This forced me to navigate all the moguls until the very end. This turned out to be a really good workout.
I took a break around 2:30 pm and pulled out a fig bar before going back up the mountain. I was riding up the lift with three students and one was saying he couldn’t see out of his goggles. I asked if he’d like a Starbucks napkin and he said yes. As I searched for the napkin, I noticed the top zipper was open and that my iPhone was missing. Yes, I had dropped my iPhone somewhere. I skied to the base without stopping and went to the lost-and-found. I asked, “did you find an iPhone?” and the woman replied, “Are your Greg?”. Mine was one of five iPhones that had been lost that day, but the only one that had been found.
There was probably 45 minutes left before the mountain would shutdown. I had lost all desire to get back on the the mountain.
I returned my ski equipment. I went to the bar where I had met Justin the night before and returned his goggles. I drop a $10 note in the case and ask the bar tender to thank Justin for me.
It was snowing heavily by now. They were expecting to get an additional 16 inches through the evening. I found a pizza restaurant, Pizano’s, down the hill near the town of Taos and ordered a pizza. I wasn’t sure where I was going to stay. I pulled out the computer and decided I would drive to Chaco Culture National Historic Park. There was a campsite, but recreation.gov wouldn’t allow me to make a reservation. I called and they told me there were tent sites available, but they couldn’t reserve a site for me.
It was a 3.5 hour drive which would take much longer. I filled up on gas and stopped at a Starbuckis in Taos. The snow turned to rain after an hour. Traffic was very slow. As the sun went down, the sky became very black and the sky filled with stars. I couldn’t see the milky-way because of moisture in the air.
As I neared Chaco park, I turned off the highway and the road quickly turned into a dirt road. I had 45 minutes to drive to the campground, in the dark, on a bumpy dirt road, in the middle of nowhere. I only saw one sign directing me to the park. I wasn’t sure if I had the right GPS location in google. About 20 minutes in, the road dipped down into a river bed. There was at least six inches of water. I was reluctant to drive through. I put the car in XMode and decided to go for it. The Outback didn’t even notice the water. The roads had a lot of washboard sections which vibrated the car and me. Driving at 30 mph seemed to reduce the vibration.
It had taken me more than four hours to get to the campsite. It was very rugged camping. Most of the sites were empty. I was too exhausted to even setup the tent. I rolled out the mattress and fell asleep pretty quickly.