A detour on NM 96 takes you to Abiquiu Lake, a popular fishing and boating area. If you can spare one hour you can join the Georgia O’Keeffe and the Ghost Landscape tour guiding you through the area she loved, explored, painted, and lived in. On to the Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, a rare find with its paleontology and anthropology museums. If you can spare one hour you can join the Georgia O’Keeffe and the Ghost Ranch Landscape tour guiding you through the area she loved, explored, painted, and lived in. Just beyond this is the Christ-in-the-Desert Monastery (Benedictine). Lay persons are welcome for weekend retreats (reservations required). At Los Ojos, you will find Tierra Wools, where the public is invited to see weavers, spinners, and dyers at work creating yarn and hand woven goods from wool gathered from the local flock. A detour to the west takes you to Heron and El Vado lakes, both popular recreation areas. Far and away the town's biggest attraction is the coal-burning Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Operating from mid-May through mid-October, the narrow-gauge train takes passengers north into Colorado, then back to Chama (a one-day trip).
Travel north from Española on US 84 to Abiquiu, a small hamlet on the "Rio Chama."
For a detour to Ghost Ranch, The Ghost Ranch Piedra Lumbre Visitor Center is located on US 84 just north of the main Ghost Ranch entrance. This is an interesting place to stop and enjoy new exhibits in the rotating gallery, permanent and traveling exhibits from the New Mexico Natural History Museum, and pick up a souvenir in the gift shop.
Continue north on US 84, past the Echo Theatre Campground to the scenic village of Los Ojos (“The Springs”), a detour on NM 95.
Continue north past Los Brazos. The Brazos Cliffs to the east are worth the short side trip, at 11,403 feet, Brazos Peak is one of the states loftiest. Your Abiquiu outing ends at Chama, a rough-and-ready old western town filled with quaint Victorian cottages.