Red River New Mexico

Golden aspen, bugling elk at dawn and dusk, and first snow on the high peaks make this a classic October weekend in Red River and around the 84-mile Enchanted Circle loop.

Drew Judycki arrived at Red River as a teenage ski bum in the 1960s, worked ski patrol and instruction, and climbed every rung over 40 years until he owned the whole mountain.

The fall's biggest weekend brings Red River Oktoberfest to Brandenburg Park October 9-11, with craft beer, contests, strongman events, and sunny highs in the low 60s.

In lawless 1870 Elizabethtown, gunman Clay Allison led a mob that hanged suspected murderer Charles Kennedy, in a frontier justice tale shadowed by Baldy Mountain.

Frosty 31-degree mornings and sunny afternoons near 67 define this October week, as Enchanted Forest sits out the ski season and Red River Ski Area preps for opening.

Mining-era Red River remembers Rebecca 'Aunt Becky' Coffelt for her magazine-papered cabin walls and a famous flower garden of towering delphiniums, columbine, and poppies.

Wednesday's spotlight pours at Red River Brewing Company & Distillery, the town's first and only brewery and distillery, serving craft beers and spirits at 217 West Main.

Prospectors following placer gold uphill found the Aztec lode on Baldy Mountain in 1868, and the mine produced an estimated $1.25 to $1.5 million in gold in its first years.