The Taos Plateau and the Rio Grande Gorge - First-day road log from Taos to Questa, the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, Arroyo Hondo, the Dunn Bridge, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, and return to Taos
— Adam S. Read, Paul W. Bauer, Ren A. Thompson, Keith I. Kelson, and William R. Muehlberger

The first day of the conference will focus on the volcanic rocks of the Taos Plateau volcanic field and the temporal and geographic relationships between volcanism, sedimentation in the San Luis Basin of the Rio Grande rift, and the fluvial / tectonic geomorphology of the Rio Grande and its tributaries. We will work downstream along the Rio Grande gorge, from above the Red River confluence in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area near Questa to below the Gorge Bridge near Taos. The rim of the gorge provides spectacular views of the geologic features exposed in the gorge walls, the volcanoes on the plateau, and the uplifts around the edges of the rift basin. If you neglect to bring a camera, you will regret it, as this is some of the most dramatic scenery in New Mexico. Note that GPS waypoints [in brackets] have been added to the roadlogs this year at turns and stops to facilitate navigation (see Appendix at the end of the roadlogs). We have posted these coordinates on the NMGS website <geoinfo.nmt.edu/nmgs/fieldtrip/2004> if you would like to upload them to your GPS unit. Relative bearings to points of interest in several log entries utilize the clock system; relative to vehicle orientation, 12:00 is directly ahead, 3:00 is to the right and so forth. The eleven color plates following the road logs are referred to throughout the road logs and in several of the papers.