A Visit to Taos, New Mexico - Part Two

Part one can be found here.

After a long and busy day one, day two looked to be just as active, if not more active than the day before.  After sleeping in a bit and getting some much needed rest, the first stop of the day was the Rio Grande Gorge State Park just to the west of Taos.  When I arrived I was met by a deep chasm in the Earth that was a lot deeper than I initially expected.  I stopped and walked out across the bridge, holding on to the rail as I went because I seem to lose all sense of balance in high places.  My wife and oldest daughter got quite a kick out of watching me walk like I was taking a sobriety test, and quite literally it felt like if I was to let go of the rail I'd stumble like a drunk.  After making it to the middle of the bridge I was greeted by quite a view, as the Rio Grande flowed below.

A quick look to the side saw a mountain sheep blended into the wall of the canyon and it was a really neat sight.  I've never seen mountain sheep before and was really surprised to see them hanging out here.

After enjoying the gorge, we stopped for a bit of lunch and headed to the south of Taos to do some river rafting on the Rio Grande.  We went through Cottom's River Rafting and they did a great job guiding us down the river through rapids and we even got to do some floating on the river outside of the raft.

The river was really a blast, and it was a fun diversion during the day during the direct sunlight.  Once the sun went down it was time to get the camera back out and capture some more of the beautiful New Mexico countryside.  I really wanted to focus on getting shots in the golden hour, then get some night shots with starts in the night sky. 

It was a great night of shooting the stars although I could have lived without the full moon that was out, which made everything look like it was daylight outside.

The next day after we woke up we decided to take a 2 mile hike to Williams Lake above the Taos Ski Valley.  The trail took us to an elevation of 11,020 feet to a beautiful mountain lake.  I'd be lying if I said that we didn't stop more than a few times on the way up.  The trail was a pretty gentle rise in elevation and at times went a little steeper, and it seemed much more when on the trail and not being used to the mountain air.  We arrived a little after 11am and it was fairly warm with the lack of a breeze, but the hike paid off in a big way. 

It was a really great trip, offered up a tons of photographic opportunities and I added some nice images to my portfolio.  I can't wait to make it back to this beautiful place soon.