Located less than an hour from Albuquerque on Highway 4, Jemez has much to offer anyone looking for a day trip excursion. Nestled alongside the Jemez River stands tall cottonwood trees that leave the day traveler refreshed from the hustle and bustle of city life. Traveling down Highway 4, the day traveler will get a glimpse of Jemez Pueblo, and if you’re lucky enough, you can even get a taste of freshly baked or fried bread.
As you travel down Highway 4, you will enter Jemez Springs with lots of quaint shops and spas. There are also fantastic restaurants and the Second-Alarm Brewery, which is highlighted in this month’s newsletter. As you continue down Highway 4 you will come across one of New Mexico’s natural wonders, the Soda Dam.
This spectacular formation has built up over the centuries by deposits of calcium carbonate from a spring that bubbles to the surface at this point. The river flows under a dome that is still building. The dam is 300 feet long, 50 feet high and 50 feet wide at the bottom.
The day traveler can carefully crawl inside the dome and sit in a geothermic pool or swim in the Jemez River that flows beneath the dam.
The adventurous few can walk a trail leading from Highway 4 up over the dam.