Anyone near Chama NM?

[trooperdan]

I know there are quite a few westerners on the boards, is anyone in northern NM? Years ago when I was a young troop at Ft. Bliss TX I bought nearly 4 acres of land near Chama NM. I haven't seen it in 30 years; I wonder if it is still there? :) It was in the Tierra Amarillo land grant area right outside of Chama, about 20 miles south of Colorado as I recall. I wonder if they ever built that big ski resort there?

[TCLouis]

You may have land that is more valuble than you realize and if you haven't been paying taxes on it you may find out that someone else owns it now. Some counties in NM "attempt" to notify owners and then have a sale on the court house steps for back taxes.

No ski resort, but the railroad is up and active and if you have any interest in trains, especially smoke belching steam locamotives I suggest you take visit the the area and a day spent to enjoy the trip over the mountain to Antonito Colorado via steam train. Works from the Colorado side too. Vans provide the return to starting point at the end of the trip/day.

Lotta country between Chama and TA.

Who knows Al Unser may be your neighbor, he lives in that general area.

If you visit I suggest staying on the other side of ther state line and fishing the Conejos. Only 25" trout I have ever caught came from there and it went back to provide offspring. You ever see the teeth in a 25" Brown??? I learned not to lip one when the get that big! Course I never NEVER caught a second one!

[Linstrum]

Hey, there Trooperdan:

I was through there last in late August of 2001. Like TCLouis already said, the narrow gauge steam trains are running and it is a pretty big tourist attraction. The lines are run jointly by New Mexico and Colorado. Depending on where your property is, the countryside varies from the Mesas of New Mexico to the honest to goodness Rocky Mountains because this area is where the two come together, along US 84. The other places nearby are having a bit of boom, with a few small shopping centers getting put in to accommodate the retirees and the work-at-home "computer commuters" who have chosen to settle there. It is getting built up. The first time I was through there was in the summer of 1970 and I drove for miles just after dark without seeing any house lights at all, but in October of 1989 I was through there again just after dark and I was amazed at all the house lights I could see in the dark that had not been there 19 years earlier. From Telluride and Durango up in Colorado to the west all the way through Pagaso Springs, Chromo, Chama, over to Antonito, and down US 84 to Cebolla and Abiquiu, there are getting to be a lot of bed and breakfast resorts, hunting lodges, private fishing lakes, and all sorts of other places catering to the outdoor sports we like. I did not recall seeing any ski places, so I can't tell about that, but a quick run through the Internet looking for "ski Chama" might answer that in a hurry. You need to check up on your property there because there were some unscrupulous real estate sales outfits that advertised on both coasts that sold cliff face property because they knew that most folks would not travel 1000 or 2000 miles to see a few acres, and often the maps were so hazy you couldn't tell where things were located exactly. Another thing that happened there almost forty years ago was a local revolt against New Mexico in 1967 (?) that had to do with land use and water distribution. The New Mexico National Guard had to come in and keep the peace for a time, and Robert Redford's movie "The Milagro Bean Field War" was loosely based on the event. Good flick, by the way! Check it out next time you go to rent a movie and don't know what to get. A bit farther north of there a buddy of mine bought some land on the upper Rio Grande River over by Antonito back in the late 1970s that turned out to be not so good for building on, but a good place to park a camper or pitch a tent and do some trout fishing and target shooting from. I Hope your place is a good one!