Day 10: Chama, NM to Eagle Nest, NM
Strava Link: Petoji Day 10
Day 10 was one of my favorite days of Petoji. The ride started in Chama, which is a cool little mountain town at about 7,500 feet. After a little bit of valley riding there was a left turn on US 64 that led to a climb up past 10,000 feet, which was the highest point of Petoji from here on out.
I really enjoyed that climb on 64. It was long and steady, traffic was low, the scenery was fantastic, and my legs felt good. What more could you ask for? I even saw a few deer out there. I was in such a good mood that morning. I can still remember riding along thinking to myself, "This is what it's all about. This is why you're doing this ride."
I'm a firm believer that America has a lot of lesser known, sometimes unexpected places that are great places to ride. This was one of them. On Strava there are only 25 people who have ridden this climb. I know Strava isn't everything, but compare that to Geiger Grade here in Reno, which has close to 900 different riders. Then compare that to a climb that everyone has heard of like Mt. Diablo, which has close to 8,000 different riders. This section of the climb was as fun and scenic as Geiger Grade or Mt. Diablo, but nobody knows about it. That was part of the joy of Petoji- getting out there and seeing unexpected places like this.
To be honest, I had never heard of Chama or Eagle Nest before Petoji and I didn't purposely include them on the route because they seemed like great places to ride. I was just trying to get across northern New Mexico in a somewhat straight line and US 64 fit the bill. Don't get me wrong- I expected good scenery in the area. I didn't know the scenery was going to be great.
After the climb it was on to Taos. Along the way I got to see some examples of Earthship Biotecture, which is super interesting. The section of US 64 between US 285 and Taos didn't have a shoulder, but traffic wasn't too bad and the scenery in Chama and Eagle Nest make the ride well worth it. Taos itself looked like a fun little town. It might be a bit of a tourist trap, but that's not always a bad thing. I was out of there and back in the mountains in no time.
I made a left turn on 64 in the middle of Taos and there was a long, gradual (15 miles at 2%) ride up to 9,000 feet. After a descent of about 700 feet I was getting close to Eagle Nest, which much like Chama ended up being a pleasant surprise. It offered some of the best scenery of all of Petoji.
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| Leaving Chama |
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| Cow |
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| Above 10,000 feet |
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| Heading towards Taos |
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| US 64 east of Taos |
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| Getting closer to Eagle Nest |
