CHARMED BY CHAMA

Sunday, June 4, 2000
Section: TRAVEL LEISURE
Page: E1

Story by Rick Nathanson * Photographs by Paul Bearce * Of the Journal

N.M.TOWN HAS MORE THAN A RAILROAD TO RECOMMEND IT

CHAMAThere's no denying that the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has a large presence up here. The howl of the train's whistle can be heard all through town, and black smoke from the old steam locomotives hovers above the depot.

But there is more to this high-country, a-river-runs-through-it town than the historic narrow-gauge train, which runs from mid-May to mid-October.

The real beauty of Chama is, well ... the real beauty of Chama.

Located about 10 miles south of the Colorado border, the town sits next to the Rio Chama in a picturesque valley below the peaks of the San Juan Mountains.

On a recent weekend getaway, my wife and I and another couple sampled the fishing, horseback riding and river rafting around Chama, as well as the town's restaurants and art galleries. We made the Elkhorn Lodge our base of operations for the first couple of days.

The Elkhorn is owned by Jim and Jill Lane, in partnership with Indiana-based Bob and Cecile Locke. When the four of them took over the 50-year-old business in January, the Lanes moved from Albuquerque to Chama to manage it.

The Elkhorn has 22 motel rooms and 11 log cabins located on 10 acres along the Rio Chama. Depending on the time of year, cabin rentals at the Elkhorn range from $65 to $112 per night, and noncabin rooms from $42 to $72.

One of the lodge's early owners, Don Graham, 75, said the cabins and the main office made up the original lodge. They were relocated to the present site in 1949 from various locations around Chama, where the cabins had been used to house loggers and people who worked at the now-closed Pond Brothers sawmill.

"I built everything else on the property after that," said Graham, who ran the Elkhorn from 1954 until 1970, and who now owns the nearby Timberline Gift Shop.

All the log cabins look rustic from the outside, but they are quite comfortable inside. Each has its own porch, many with a barbecue grill. Our cabin had a separate kitchen area and two double beds, while our friends' cabin was a bit smaller and did not have a kitchen.

Our cabin also faced the Rio Chama. The running water lulled us to sleep at night and afforded an early morning opportunity to fish.

The Lanes are a hospitable, friendly couple, eager to provide guests with information on things to do around Chama. They do the booking for Canyon R.E.O. river-rafting in Chama, and in a daring move we booked a full-day, nine-mile Rio Chama wilderness trip. The $85-per-person cost included a lunch of sandwiches, chips and soft drinks.

R.E.O. also books half-day, five-mile trips for $55 per person, and longer two- or three-day trips for $218 and $285 per person.

A van towing a trailer piled with rafts and kayaks arrived early in the morning. Our driver and river guide was a wiry young man named Kenny Acord, accompanied by his black Lab, Boom. Three people with a husky-type dog followed in a truck. They would accompany us down the river in kayaks.

Kenny, a native of North Carolina, attends college in Flagstaff, Ariz., where he concentrates on anthropology, archaeology and Native American studies. We drove south on U.S. 84 to a Forest Service road near the Ghost Ranch Living Museum and followed the road and river upstream for several miles.

Kenny was knowledgeable about the geology of the cliff formations: the stratified layers of rock span the Permian Age, roughly 220 million years ago, through the Cretaceous Age, a relatively young 1 million years old.

At a place called Chavez Canyon we were given a crash course in raft-paddling, we donned life jackets and shoved off. The chilly water was flowing briskly, though it wasn't particularly deep; consequently there were many more exposed rocks to watch for.

The rapids in the Rio Chama Canyon Run, as the stretch of river is known, are rated Class II and III, meaning it's easy enough for novices and children. We pretty much forgot about that as soon as we hit Undercut Rapid, the first in a series of white water sections we would negotiate this day. Here, the river takes a hard right turn and piles up against a sheer rock wall.

A rush of water, a rush of adrenaline, and we paddled through like pros, a bit wetter for our efforts, but clearly pleased with ourselves.

"You see things from a different point of view on the river," said Kenny. "Some spots here would take two days to hike into, but on the river we can get here in a matter of hours. I can definitely see why Georgia O'Keeffe was down here painting. The colors are intense. It's like a different world."

Our raft trip took us through a riparian habitat of cottonwoods and willows. Mallards and Canada geese with their young bobbed in the water, while hawks, swallows and band-tailed pigeons rode the air currents above.

We also enjoyed watching the kayakers slide through the rapids as if they were out for a casual stroll. One young woman in an inflatable "duckie" kayak did an admirable job juggling her paddle and her nervous dog.

We ended our trip cold and wet but absolutely delighted. We warmed up during the short ride back to Chama, and by then it was time to search out a restaurant.

Dinner time
A favorite spot for locals is Viva Vera's Mexican Kitchen. Diners entering the eatery are greeted by a large photograph of Vera, her hands on her hips, looking sternly at customers, almost as if to dare them to eat with their elbows on the table.

In reality, Vera Alcon is a pleasant woman, quick with a smile and ready to tell patrons about the menu she has developed in her 37 years in the restaurant business. The Mexican entrees are tasty, but don't leave without trying the homemade bread pudding or apple pie. Delicious.

Vera's also serves lunch and breakfast, as do most of the other restaurants around town. During our stay, we had breakfast at the Elkhorn Cafe and at the Branding Iron Cafe, which we all agreed had some of the best salsa anywhere.

Perhaps the biggest dining surprise was at the restaurant in the old Foster Hotel. Built in 1881, the Foster Hotel is the oldest commercial structure in Chama, and one of the few buildings that escaped a series of disastrous fires that destroyed the original commercial-retail core of Chama.

The restaurant was recently given a facelift, as part of an ongoing hotel renovation. The restaurant offers a mix of steaks, seafood and Mexican dishes, all of it wonderfully prepared. Throw in a soup and salad bar and a cold beer, and you're looking at four happy campers.

The Foster Hotel was built to house workers on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, the original name of the narrow gauge. The hotel has been owned since 1983 by Alice Nuno.

Restaurant manager Betty Ridgway took us on a tour of the building, showing us the mahogany bar carved with the names and initials of patrons from generations past. Upstairs are eight rooms that rent for $39-$45, and though a bathroom has been added to each, the rooms look pretty much as they did when the hotel was built. Each room still contains antique furniture and bed frames.

Another upstairs section of the hotel is closed off. It contains 16 rooms that are still in disrepair, and are said to be the source of two ghosts. One of them is the ghost of a man who was killed in a room by "a jealous husband," Ridgway said. The other ghost is believed to be of a woman who was running for a judgeship and died in one of the rooms after being poisoned.

The great outdoors
Before the days of train tourists, people came to Chama to hunt and fish, and to enjoy the spectacular vistas. Bruce Maker, 62, of 5M Outfitters still makes his living by sharing these things with visitors.

He led us on a seven-mile, half-day horseback ride that included a little fishing in the Edward Sargent Fish and Wildlife Area. The half day trip cost $40 per person. Maker also offers full-day trips for $80, and overnight trips for $125. The longer trips include meals. He also rents horses for $15 an hour. Maker will supply fishing equipment upon request, but customers must purchase their own fishing licenses.

The 26,000-acre wilderness area is home to deer, bear, mountain lion, wild turkey, and, according to Maker, "some of the best elk hunting in the United States." In fact, the only way to see this part of the country is on horseback or foot. Vehicles, including snowmobiles, are not allowed to enter.

Maker, a grizzled ol' cowpoke, is perfectly at home in this setting. He claims to "know all the elk by name," and he has a story for just about every occasion.

"One time I roped a bear just to see what would happen," he said, his eyes lighting up and a grin spreading across his face. "He started to come at me and wanted to join me in the saddle. The rope jerked up tight around the saddle horn and I couldn't get it off."

After a few terrifying moments, Maker said, he managed to pry the rope off the saddle horn and the bear took off. Not one to make the same foolish mistake twice, Maker said he learned his lesson: "Don't get your rope dallied up too tight when you rope a bear."

We dismounted along the Rio Chamita and fished for a while. There were a few bites, but the fish were not cooperating so we pressed on into the high country and made our way through strands of scrub oak, juniper, pinon, ponderosa pine and aspen. The thick groves of trees occasionally opened to expansive meadows, lush with native grasses and wild flowers. Every so often we would catch sight of elk and other wildlife.

The horses clearly knew their way around the wilderness area. When it was time to head back, they just led the way.

Railroad legacy
We spent that night at the Gandy Dancer Bed and Breakfast Inn, a renovated Victorian home built in 1913 and now owned by Darryl and Anita Dismuke.

A "gandy dancer" is slang for a railroad worker. The railroad theme is echoed in the shades of railcar gray used throughout the inn, and in the names given to the seven private rooms Main Line, Caboose and Box Car among them.

The Dismukes have done an outstanding job renovating the old home, which they opened in 1990. The building was stripped down to bare wood and rebuilt. Wood from the original building was recycled to make shelves, racks, tables and closets.

Small sections of floors in bathrooms, closets and hallways were given a coat of "crackle" paint and then stenciled with flowers for a Victorian flourish. The mix of the home's furnishings is not, however, strictly Victorian. The living room, for example, contains an early 1800s Dutch Pennsylvania hutch, an antique end table from Spain, and standing monkey servant candle holders, which are British folk art.

The dining room has an Old Mission-style dining table, an antique seller's cabinet with Tiffany glass, and old country-style pie safe.

Each of the bedrooms is immaculate, with a private bathroom and its own unique feeling thanks to the careful selection of furnishings.

The Gandy Dancer also has its ghosts, said Anita. In the years since the bed and breakfast opened, many guests have reported seeing the ghost of a child bouncing a ball, and the ghost of an older woman who occasionally wakes people in the middle of the night by fanning their covers.

At the risk of being too decadent, we took advantage of the Gandy Dancer's backyard hot tub and soaked our aching horse-ridden bodies while sipping wine.

Not surprisingly, we slept soundly that night, and awoke the next morning to a sumptuous breakfast prepared by the Dismukes.

Daily rates at the Gandy Dancer range from $89-$95 in the summer and $65-$85 in the winter.

Local sights
We spent our last afternoon in Chama wandering the main street and checking out the local sights. The narrow gauge railroad had not yet begun seasonal operation, but we were able to arrange a walking tour through the depot, rail yard and backshop.

Visitors can pick up a free brochure in the depot for a walking tour of the yard. Guided tours can be arranged in advance by calling Kim Smith Flowers, marketing manager for the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, 756-2151.

There are several gift shops and galleries in Chama, all offering something different. The old Rainbow Movie Theater, built in 1935, is now the Mountain View Mall. It houses the Fudge Factory, the Denim Depot clothing store, the Boxcar Gift Shop, Gemtiques jewelry store and the Chama T-Shirt Co.

One of the retailers located in the Cumbres Shopping Mall is the Blue Heron Gallery, where owner and former wildlife artist Leslie Trimble creates a signature line of pottery painted with wildlife.

Also located there is the Unicorn Gallery, which features the work of Arizona artist Al Peyron, who has developed a process of transferring images from Old West photos, many of them famous archival pictures, directly onto pieces of kaibab sandstone.

Other places of interest include the Narrow Gauge Gift Shop, Local Color Gallery, and the Shamrock Hotel, which has gift and jewelry shops on the first floor, and rental rooms on the second floor. The summer rate is $52-$72, and the winter rate is $30-$40.

A must-see attraction of the Shamrock is the suite at the top of the stairs, which was built exactly to the specifications of the man who financed the hotel's construction in 1939, said current hotel owners, Barbara and Roger Hogun. It is the only room with an adjoining second bedroom, and the only room with original oak panel walls and ceiling. The room also has the original seafoam green bathroom fixtures.

We departed Chama in the afternoon, knowing that we had visited a place that is little more than three hours from Albuquerque, but nearly a world away.

If you go

*Chama Valley Chamber of Commerce, (505) 756-2306 or (800) 477-0149.

*Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, (505) 756-2151; www.cumbrestoltec.com

*The Elkhorn Lodge and Cafe, and Canyon R.E.O. (505) 756-2105; www.elkhornlodge.net

*The Gandy Dancer Bed and Breakfast, (505) 756-2191 or (800) 424-6702; www.frontdesk@gandydancerbb.com

*5M Outfitters, (505) 588-7003

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