Taos, New Mexico, is the first stop on my annual migration from Colorado to the Everglades where I spend the winter chasing snook, reds, and tarpon. It’s a short four-hour drive from my summer haunt near Salida, Colorado. I haven’t been to Taos 
for over twenty years, and the place has changed plenty since. Downtownis still picturesque, although crowded, with rush hour traffic jams. Now nasty residential and commercial sprawl pocks the outskirts of town, formerly the realmof elk. But the lure
of fishing the mighty and pristine Rio Grande deep in a gorge just outside of Taos keeps me in a good frame of mind—the river looked positively entrancing as I pass over it on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on the way into Taos.
I set up my mobile fishing camp in the surprisingly quiet and bucolic Taos Valley RV Park, only 10 minutes from the downtown plaza, then head to the Taos Fly Shop just down the road, fly fishing central in this part of New Mexico.
The affable owner, Nick Streit, gives me a friendly welcome and shares the skinny on what flies are hot. He recommends a double nymph rig—his local pattern called a Poundmeister in Size 6 (tied to represent a crane fly larvae) and a Size 18 red micro mayfly—both dangled below a big dry to serve mainly as a strike indicator, although Nick notes that there is still some hopper activity in the gorge so I might get surprised.
From the Colorado border to below Taos, there are over 30 miles of good water to choose from on the Rio Grande. Where to go?? I tell Nick I am looking for some solitude as well as hungry fish and mention that I read some scuttlebutt online that a stretch of the river in the canyon reached via the Miners Trail is a good candidate (some guide books call it the Cedar Springs trail, but the Cedar Springs are on the other side of the river and there is no trail from there to the river). Nick recalls his guides saying it’s been a little off lately, but I would probably have it to myself because of the steep hike in…but if I go, for the best fishing be sure to hike downstream a piece from where the trail intersects the river. That will prove to be excellent advice. I get a dozen of the various fly patterns he suggests, a copy of his father Taylor’s excellent book on New Mexico fishing, my license and with a few hours of daylight left, decide to scout out the Miners Trailhead. Glad I did.The route to the trailhead is circuitous. From downtown Taos, I follow directions I find online in an article in the local paperabout hiking the Miners Trail. I take Highway 522 north turning off left (west) on B-006, a good gravel road just before you get to the hamlet of Arroyo Hondo.
This takes me west down to the John Dunn Bridge across the Rio Grande. The climb out of the gorge from the bridge is a rough road with tight switchbacks. When I hit the rim, I drive another mile or so until I see a sign on the right indicating the Colorado State Line is 34 miles to the north, turn there and proceed about another 1.5 miles till the road forks just beyond the last house. The fork to the right is TP (Taos Plateau) 219, but the sign has been torn off the post. Keeping the faith, I turn and in a half mile or so I see a sign that has survived the vandals. From the fork it is about 2.5 miles to the trailhead. The road becomes progressively rougher and heavily rutted in spots—I wouldn’t want to navigate it when muddy. A high-clearance vehicle can make the trip, but leave the family car at home. My Xterra SUV has no problem, but after hitting a couple of deep potholes that rattle my teeth, I slow to a steady 10 mph.
The sun is setting as I find the trailhead and peer down into the canyon. It’s a fairly short, if steep trail, only a little over a mile one-way. The trail is rocky but decently maintained, so I make a decision to hike in the next day wearing my waders and fishing vest. Then I head back to my trailer to rig up and get an early start.