Pillow like clouds, sparse and few. Snow peaked mountains we watched melt slowly over two weeks. And an incredible view into the ravine and river from my desk.
Hannah’s planning and attention to detail paid off here, especially for it being our first time. If you search for the BLM land around John Dunn Bridge directly on Google, you might be okay with a reasonable sized RV or truck camper. But show up with a larger rig, and even if you could get across the bridge, the switchback will be your doom. A quick succession, steep, rocky, unpaved quadruple switchback proved difficult, but NOT impossible for our beloved and trustworthy smart car. But it would have for our 31′ rig. Hannah diligently found a longer route to the top, where we camped near the switchback.
Speaking of that switchback, Hannah and I are truly feeling our best these days. You see, this wonderful area hosts many natural hot springs, heated to sometimes 100 degrees from natural geothermal heat. Down the switchback three times, there is an unmarked trail that includes some light rock scrambling to access. It’s probably 15 to 20 minutes down, then 25 to 30 up. But the reward is so worth it: Blackrock hot springs.
So we did that trip a couple of times. Feeling a bit nervous, Hannah journeyed with me down the switchback just as the sun was setting. Although afraid, she bravely followed. I bit my tongue when the sun setting with our descent reminded me of the horror game intro “Blair Witch”.
By the time we reached the unmarked trail, the sun was gone, and our flashlights were out and illuminating the path. Well prepared, we climbed across rocks, branches, and poison Ivy. A couple was just finishing up when we arrived, and Hannah and I enjoyed half an hour of peace. We were surprised as we packed up and found a large group with dogs had arrived. And several more groups on our way out! We might have missed some party invite.
After doing that a couple of times, we learned of Manby hot springs. Starting at the beach off John Dunn bridge, it’s a 2 mile hike along the Rio Grande. Once again unmarked, this trail was much more intensive than Blackrock. A solid hour our so just to get in, including Poison Ivy, large boulder scrambling, and other fun obstacles. Overgrown grass covered small creeks leading to the large river, some sections have to be leapt across.
It was truly wonderful. Constantly birds above, we witnessed a hawk nose dive from the top of the ravine, making a jet noise as it shot downward. We stared in awe as it elegantly turned its body and flew across the water. We walked through fields of long grass where thousands of grasshoppers bounced around and away from us, singing for us as we crossed. Fish jumped from the water occasionally, drawing attention of more birds. Geese relaxed on rocky shore banks and in the river, searching for another meal.
We were flabbergasted when we discovered Manby hot springs had unfinished man made structures around it. Some sort of half made main building, a well, and parts of the springs had all been put together with flagstone and putty. So it turns out in the 1920’s a man named Arthur Manby discovered the heated water and wanted to commercialize, but did not finish before he passed.
Now on protected land, people are free to make the hike to the springs. Several pools of varying temperatures. Hannah and I began the hike early, and enjoyed the pools for a couple of hours alone. We enjoyed a simple snack lunch we packed, and gave the pool to the next visitor to enjoy in peace.
We enjoyed the hike out, rejuvenated by the springs, and felt accomplished when we arrived at camp for the evening. With what little energy we had left, we engaged with the dogs so they had activity for the day. With everyone tired, and it only being 2 PM, we enjoyed a simple meal and relaxed the rest of the day.
Speaking of the dogs, they are work as always. Nervous in a new environment, they barked at cars passing an American football field away. An overwhelming amount of off leash dogs and inattentive owners also created difficulties, but we prevailed ultimately. And the girls are better for it.
Limited in direction due to off leash dogs in campsites directly off the main road, we carted them around the campsite area and the switchback. Occasional light attempts to allow them to look while well equipped with treats were made while within their tolerance.
Despite an onslaught of disrespectful and indifferent dog owners, the girls enjoyed lots of open space and running, and more treats than was probably necessary. The difficulties proves worth it when we see our dogs quickly spin and run to us when called, and the distractions grow greater with our successes.
The surrounding area is both equally stunning and beautiful. We were blessed with all types of weather, and enough sunshine to charge our batteries to full ten times over. Even when the weather was at its worst here, it was still very worthwhile to make your way outside to enjoy the ever changing scene.
Speckled clouds across the sky gave us ample time to stare as far as our eyes would allow and discuss what shapes they make out. Occasional rain reflected the most miraculous rainbows we have ever seen. Birds danced in the sky, creating an awe inspiring choreograph you can’t see anywhere else.
We quickly moved to a new camp site after the first night when we walked the grounds and found a prettier location. Trading privacy for a view, we did have lots and LOTS of people parking their vehicles directly next to our rig, within a couple of steps, and playing music loudly. Most parked to make their way on foot down the switchback, likely to the springs, but some just… Remained for a while. After a couple of days, a converted school bus parked in the same lot as us and set up camp. They were quiet and respectful.
It was about eight at night, the sun was mostly gone, when, in the dead silence in nature, someone pounded several times on our front door. With the dogs freaking out, I located our bat and met a woman at the front door. I allowed the dogs plenty of time to jump at the front door to make sure they were aware of them, and greeted her with a blatantly annoyed voice.
She demanded that I tell her where the owner of the converted school bus had gone, claiming that I must have seen him come, go, or be around. Hannah and I exclusively keep to ourselves and do not try to make friends in the middle of nowhere, especially when we aren’t actively at a social event. I explained to her that we didn’t know him or have any information, and she argued with me. She demanded that I had seen him, and I abruptly ended the conversation and shut the door after the third time. We then heard her interacting with who, we assumed, was the one she was looking for throughout the night.
Although this quickly became a non-issue with someone who doesn’t quite understand acceptable social behavior, we soon had another critical failure on our hands. A quick catch up on our fridge: it has always worked great on 120V, but was energy expensive and teetered our batteries between life and death daily. In order to switch it to propane, it must be monitored throughout the day. Upon opening it the first time, I found the ignition wires disconnected. Upon reconnecting them, it lit without issue and had no trouble heating the chamber to cool the fridge. But the igniter would just… Keep going. Forever. So we would remove the negative leg to stop it from triggering.
This was fine, except the fridge eventually reaches its maximum cool and kills the flame. Then it stats to warm up, and it calls for the igniter… Which is unplugged. Sorry, did you think that’s what the issue was? Sorry for being misleading.
No, one morning we woke to cold temperatures inside and dead batteries unable to run so much as the furnace. So I decided to put the fridge on propane to keep it cool until the batteries charged. I head outside and pop the panel to find… Some strange ammonia chemical smell and yellow powder appearing within the panel.
I head inside quickly to grab my phone for a quick search: “Yellow powder in RV absorption fridge back panel”. And I was absolutely not pleased with the results. The most common response was to absolutely under no circumstances run the fridge in any capacity. Also to vent your RV and avoid using any flames until the smell was gone. Turns out it WAS ammonia (thanks Chemistry degree, which helps with smells I guess.) and our beloved food keeper had given in. Heartbroken, we discussed several solutions and strategies and decided on the least expensive and intensive way to navigate it. We scheduled for a repair in Durango, CO and drove into Taos to load up on ice and bought a cheap cooler.
We’ve all used coolers, but have you ever put your entire fridge in one? The smell, the mixed water and eventual juices, digging through ice to get what you need. It’s all sobbing wet, on the counters, floor. At one point Izzy reached in and ate over A DOZEN RAW EGGS. Follow us on social media for the update coming soon.
All in all, we worked with the cooler and managed to survive. Taos is a truly beautiful and artsy community, and the John Dunn Bridge was an immaculate place to stay. Despite our issues, I highly recommend this location for it’s wonderful views, sunsets, rainbows, the wonderful town, and, of course, the hot springs.
Love the adventure? Follow us on social media for more crazy stories. Coming up we have the fridge repair, our water heater dying, getting bit by a dog, and rapidly passing out. And of course more amazing hikes in places like Durango, CO, Mesa Verde, and we have MUCH MUCH more planned in the future! Thanks for reading!
Leave a Reply