Red River is a mountain town that remembers being a mining camp, and it keeps a bit of the frontier in its main street. Prospectors arrived in the 1890s after gold and copper turned up in the canyon, and for a while the place was rough, with saloons and claims everywhere. The mines faded and the town reinvented itself as a ski and summer resort, and now it fills in winter with skiers and in summer with families, hikers and, on Memorial Day weekend, a large motorcycle rally that takes over the town.
It sits in a narrow valley at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and Wheeler Peak, at 13,161 feet the highest point in New Mexico, stands a few miles to the south. The Red River itself runs clear and cold through the middle of town, and trout fishing is a long-running pastime. In autumn the aspens on the hillsides turn gold, a vivid ribbon against the dark green of the spruce. The air is high, dry and thin, with the town sitting at around 8,700 feet.
The riding is a highlight of the Enchanted Circle, the roughly eighty-four mile loop around Wheeler Peak. From Red River, State Route 38 climbs over Bobcat Pass, a bit under ten thousand feet, in a long series of bends through spruce and fir. The road is well surfaced, though with sections of frost damage, and the corners are open and flowing. Weather can change very quickly, and snow can fall in any month except perhaps July. Mornings are the best time for the climb, and thunderstorms often gather in the afternoon.
Red River has fuel and a decent selection of restaurants, from steak and green chile to pizza and breakfast burritos. New Mexican food is built around red or green chile, and if you are asked which you want, the answer 'Christmas' gets you both. Taos, thirty-seven kilometres away, is the nearest larger town. Bring a warm layer and give yourself time, since the scenery calls for it.