Taos Half-Day Hiking Tour

This half day tour invites you out into what many call the real soul of Taos: her wild, glorious backdrop. You begin at the Taos Gorge Bridge, the seventh-tallest bridge in the United States, walking a stretch of its deck 565 feet above the free-flowing Rio Grande while your guide unfolds the geological story of the rift and the river below.

From there you set out on the La Vista Verde Trail, a 2.5-mile round trip from a 6,400-foot trailhead, with sweeping panoramas and the famous Taos Box overlook where the gorge plunges and the water churns far beneath you. This is the heart of the Rio Grande Rift, a rare continental rift zone walled in lava between 2.8 and 4.8 million years old, and your guide brings its geology and volcanology to life at every turn. The trail itself is easy by most standards, short and non-technical, opening some of the most dramatic country in the Southwest to nearly everyone. Just know that Taos sits near 7,000 feet, where thinner air turns an easy walk into a moderate one, especially for visitors newly arrived from sea level. With a guide setting the rhythm, the walk stays comfortable and the scenery gets your full attention.