New Mexico must do trails/things to see

[kcjaz]

Thinking about a trip this spring to the Santa Fe NM area. Mostly just exploring and find cool places. Not planing on do much off-roading but would like a scenic trail or two spend a few hours on maybe on the way to a scenic area. Also looking for good areas to stay. No camping. Vrbos or KOA type cabins. Any locals ( or anyone) got some recommendations?

 

[kcjaz]

Bumping my own thread. Maybe I'll be forging some new trails. I'll upload my maps if I make it back from the wild...

 

[empty80]

Bumping my own thread. Maybe I'll be forging some new trails. I'll upload my maps if I make it back from the wild...

Well, there’s plenty to see and do. NM-126 from Cuba to NM-4 in Jemez Springs is a nice drive. Battleship Rock, the Soda Dam and the Valles Caldera are all in that area too.

I’d also recommend posting the same question to the High Desert Cruisers club page. You’ll get a ton of recommendations from the rest of the group. They are a great group of guys that know this state way better than I do.

NM- High Desert Cruisers

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Artie]

I’m watching this tread for ideas on a trip we’re taking this coming summer. My wife is from there and we have done some travel around the state but only camped around Choco area. I wish I had some info to share… the only lead I have remotely close to that area is a dispersed campsite that looks decent that was shared with me by a fellow Conqueror owner…I’ve never been to it so I can’t even honestly recommend it. I

 

[FMC80]

Go to Taos ski valley. Best skiing, righteous mountain.

Angel Fire ski resort. Fun to go there and ride the ski lifts when there isn’t any snow. Gorgeous country.

Red river ski resort.

Love Santa Fe. Skiing there is okay too not as good as the above.

Just re-read you’re going in spring. The locales I just listed are breathtakingly gorgeous.

You can also hit up the NM Tramway in Albuquerque. Longest tram in the world(?) it’s really big (so to speak). At the top, I go for a hike, a burger, and a craft brew.

Santa Fe has great restaurants. New Mexican food is to die for. Especially the hot green chili.
@Atomic City is up in Santa Fe. He may be able to give you better details.

 

[kcjaz]

Go to Taos ski valley. Best skiing, righteous mountain.

Angel Fire ski resort. Fun to go there and ride the ski lifts when there isn’t any snow. Gorgeous country.

Red river ski resort.

Love Santa Fe. Skiing there is okay too not as good as the above.

Just re-read you’re going in spring. The locales I just listed are breathtakingly gorgeous.

You can also hit up the NM Tramway in Albuquerque. Longest tram in the world(?) it’s really big (so to speak). At the top, I go for a hike, a burger, and a craft brew.

Santa Fe has great restaurants. New Mexican food is to die for. Especially the hot green chili.
@Atomic City is up in Santa Fe. He may be able to give you better details.

Thanks. I remember the tramway to Mt. Sandia and have road on it 30 some years ago. It’s been so long I forgot about. I was in Albuquerque for a job interview. Loved the area but ended up deciding against the job. That was a good decision as all of the 5 other guys they did higher were all laid off their first week after moving to Albuquerque when Honeywell sold to another defense contractor.

 

[Atomic City]

I'm technically not in Santa Fe. I'm northwest of there in Los Alamos.

Plenty of good recommendations so far. I'll add the 31 mile road for a cool drive that skirts the backside of the Valles Caldera. Just be a bit wary of the locals, they aren't always that friendly.

The food here is really good, as previously mentioned. Some recommendations for Santa Fe:

The Pantry (awesome breakfast)
The Shed (amazing red chile)
Chocolate Maven (good baked treats)
Coyote Cafe (bring your wallet)
Geronimo
Gabriel's (not technically on Santa Fe, but great guacamole and margaritas)

There are many other good spots to eat.

Other places to see: San Antonio hot springs, the Latir mountains outside of Questa, Glorieta for mountain biking (actually I have a ton of suggestions for mountain biking, rock climbing, and hiking here if you are into that stuff. PM me if you are interested) and many others. Plenty to see and do here.

 

[EPUro2019]

Tent rocks national monument - near Santa Fe is really cool. quick easy stop. Phallic looking rocks but very unique

10000 waves outside of Santa Fe - Japanese spa. Really refreshing and a great stop.

Meow wolf - art installation/experience. Ever try LSD?

Food:
Clafoutis - french pastry shop, really good
Paper dosa - Indian but different region.
Jambo Cafe - Caribbean inspired, fantastic
so many other delicious places to eat, can't go wrong.

 

[yonah]

I may have missed it, but from what direction will you be approaching Sante Fe? I’m familiar with some good day trips/trails in central NM.

 

[kcjaz]

I may have missed it, but from what direction will you be approaching Sante Fe? I’m familiar with some good day trips/trails in central NM.

We’ll be coming from Kansas City. Will probably drop south first then head west.

 

[yonah]

We’ll be coming from Kansas City. Will probably drop south first then head west.

When I lived in El Paso, I explored a lot in the Cibola NF, Lincoln NF, and Gila NF areas. There is a lot to see in those parts and there’s not a lot of people, which is great if you like some solitude.

This guy did an excellent job mapping and recording some trails north of Las Cruces, NM.

Elephant Butte Jeep trails with GPS tracks. - Jeep the USA

Explore a wide variety of Jeep and ATV trails near Elephant Butte. All trails have maps, photos and GPS - gpx tracks.

www.jeeptheusa.com

The San Mateo GP loop is beautiful and, if you’re inclined to camp, there are a couple of establish primitive sites along that route, some even have camp shelters - as well as some excellent hikes. Lots of mining camp remnants and natural springs, really cool stuff. I used to fill up a water tank every time I would visit the spring in this area; it was some of the best tasting water I’ve ever found. Chris from Venture 4WD camped in this area about a year ago.




I’m familiar with some other cool hikes in Lincoln NF and the Cornudas mountains further south, but that may be a stretch from Sante Fe.

 

[bloc]

I used to run a long gravel route from El Paso into cloudcroft and described that in another thread for a local Austin guy.. could point you to that post if you’ll be that far south.

 

[kcjaz]

When I lived in El Paso, I explored a lot in the Cibola NF, Lincoln NF, and Gila NF areas. There is a lot to see in those parts and there’s not a lot of people, which is great if you like some solitude.

This guy did an excellent job mapping and recording some trails north of Las Cruces, NM.

Elephant Butte Jeep trails with GPS tracks. - Jeep the USA

Explore a wide variety of Jeep and ATV trails near Elephant Butte. All trails have maps, photos and GPS - gpx tracks.

www.jeeptheusa.com

The San Mateo GP loop is beautiful and, if you’re inclined to camp, there are a couple of establish primitive sites along that route, some even have camp shelters - as well as some excellent hikes. Lots of mining camp remnants and natural springs, really cool stuff. I used to fill up a water tank every time I would visit the spring in this area; it was some of the best tasting water I’ve ever found. Chris from Venture 4WD camped in this area about a year ago.




I’m familiar with some other cool hikes in Lincoln NF and the Cornudas mountains further south, but that may be a stretch from Sante Fe.

awesome! thank you!

I used to run a long gravel route from El Paso into cloudcroft and described that in another thread for a local Austin guy.. could point you to that post if you’ll be that far south.

please point. I don't know the route we'll take. It will depend on places/points of interest. Definitely more the journey than any specific destination.

 

[bloc]

please point. I don't know the route we'll take. It will depend on places/points of interest. Definitely more the journey than any specific destination.

I wrote it up going from cloudcroft down to El Paso.. shouldn’t be too hard to flip it. Not tech savvy enough to put together gpx or whatever it is, but this has the instructions:

Camping between ATX and Albuquerque?

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[yonah]

I wrote it up going from cloudcroft down to El Paso.. shouldn’t be too hard to flip it. Not tech savvy enough to put together gpx or whatever it is, but this has the instructions:

Camping between ATX and Albuquerque?

forum.ih8mud.com

@kcjaz you could easily tie Alamo Mountain into the southern leg of the route @bloc posted. A couple of hours at Alamo Mountain would be enough time to see the old Butterfield stagecoach station and a sampling of the thousands of petroglyphs on the western side of the mountain.

A did a write-up about Alamo Mountain a few years back. Good spot that you’ll likely have all to yourself.

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/recent-trip-to-alamo-mountain-nm.166917/

Cool pic from one of my trips there:

@mep1811 is a local in these parts and might have some good/current recommendations as well.

Best of luck and safe travels. Beautiful country out there.