Angel Fire is best known for a single building, a small white chapel on a hillside that has nothing to do with skiing. Dr. Victor Westphall, a New Mexico man whose son David died in the Vietnam War in 1968, built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Chapel in his son's memory, and it grew into a state park that honours all those who served. The curved white walls rise against the mountains and the plain inside is deeply affecting. It is a place where people drop their voices without being asked.
Beyond the memorial the village is a mountain resort, with ski runs on the slopes in winter and mountain bikers in summer. It stands in the Moreno Valley, a high, wide basin of grass at about 8,400 feet, rimmed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and it forms the southern anchor of the Enchanted Circle loop around Wheeler Peak. The air is clear and dry, the nights are cold even in summer, and the stars are bright.
For the bike, the roads around here are broad and gentle, with long curves across the valley floor and views to the mountains. To the south, US 64 climbs over Palo Flechado Pass, just over nine thousand feet, and drops through pine forest to Taos in a series of tidy bends. The surface is good, and the traffic is steady but not heavy. Weather is the main variable, with summer storms and a sudden drop in temperature when clouds build. In October the aspens glow, and the road is busy with leaf-watchers.
Angel Fire has fuel, groceries and a handful of restaurants, and the village is built for visitors, so services are easy to find. Taos is twenty-six kilometres away, and has a bigger selection and a famous old plaza. The Enchanted Circle can be ridden in a day with stops, and this is a good place for a break around the middle, with a coffee and a few quiet minutes at the chapel.