New Mexico

[user 29503]

Any well enjoyed recommendations for stops, aside from Roswell, Carlsbad, and White Sands?

 

[tx2sturgis]

Are you looking for tourist attractions or campgrounds or free BLM/NF camping or great restaurants or what?

What have you seen so far? What are you close to?

I can shotgun a random list of things but its kind've a waste of time if you've seen and done all the normal stuff.

 

[txmnjim]

Chaco Canyon

 

[Chuck Q]

Just North of Deming, NM, there is a spot called Faywood Hot Springs. Open air hot mineral water soaking. Nice (reasonably priced) camping. "Clothes optional" camping and hot tub area for those so inclined. Take a short stroll to the top of "Observation Hill" for gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. Site used to be: a native American "healing site", Butterfield stage stop, mineral water bottling factory, hippie hangout in the 70-80s and now a mellow, out of the way, awesome camping spot with benefits.

Just North of Faywood Hot Springs is the Mogolon Rim/Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwelllings, well worth a stop. Silverton has some great history and was where Billy the Kid washed dishes for a living, fine Mexican food too!

While in Deming, find the "Adobe Deli" (somewhat of a challenge to find, good luck!) for an excellent steak dinner with a real "hunter cabin" atmosphere. Local favorite for a good reason! I have asked and been granted permission to sleep in their parking lot on occasion. Yes, they are that far out of the way....... Deming also has an interesting small history museum, which has a collection of artifacts from the Faywood Hot Springs.

South of Deming, is Columbus, New Mexico, where Pancho Villa invaded the US before WWI. Great museum, nice State Park for paid camping or camp for free at the airport. Excellent Mexican food in town! Just South of Columbus is the small Mexican town of Las Palomas which is fun to stroll around (at least it was 2 years ago).

All of the above are within 100 miles of each other.

Happy Trails!
Chuck in Arkansas

 

[frater secessus]

Stay away from Albuquerque.

<shrug> There is some nice camping east of town in the Cibola NF (~6700ft), and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History (long blog post).

 

[bpdchief]

Near Deming is Silver City a nice drive getting there and if you take Hwy 15 North out of Silver City it's a beautiful mountain and wooded drive all the way to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (numerous free camping areas along hwy 15). Come back down from Gila and go left on Hwy 35 to San Lorenzo then left on Hwy 152 (another beautiful drive) east to I-25 through Truth or Consequences on North to Socorro NM. where Hwy 60 west will take you to BOX CANYON , WATER CANYON (BLM) and VLA (Very Large Array) which is very interesting. Go on to Pie Town for good eats!

 

[aytee]

Chama.

Altho a little high in altitude so you may want to wait a month.

 

[TooFarGone]

I didn't see it mentioned above, and it's right in the Deming, Silver City, Faywood area: City of Rocks State Park. I've stayed there a couple of times; it's worth a visit IMO even if you don't camp there.

 

[abnorm]

Lots of Wildfire road closures..........MAP:

https://www.nmroads.com/mapIndex.html

 

[AmargosaWayne]

The NM map also shows links to each adjacent state's traffic maps.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Yeah the smoke is visible and sometimes 'smellable' over here in the Texas Panhandle and I told a friend of mine who lives in ABQ to stop flicking his ashes on us!

Typical flight paths of the firefighting aircraft are loops and ovals as seen in this screen shot on flightradar24:

 

[CosmickGold]

. . . . New Mexico . . . .

It sounds wonderful, places I will now look for on my way to the Northwest from hot-dry-flat Texas.
New Mexico was the FIRST place I and my parents ever saw real mountains. It was on a family vacation when I was nine. Mother kept squealing about how beautiful it was like she had never seen, and kept snapping 35mm pictures out the window. My father was driving the whole trip, quietly enjoying her excitement.

 

[Morgana]

Be safe, people traveling/staying in this area now. Apparently they're looking at "potentially historic" high-wind conditions around northern NM. This article, if I understood it right, says wind can carry flames a full mile in one go.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/07/new-mexico-wildfire-winds-forecast
If you're near a hotspot, don't wait for the last minute to evacuate!

Fingers crossed for Las Vegas (NM) right now.

 

[Mattkcc]

I would advise to stay away from any area getting high winds. Back in February I was at Chaco Canyon National Park and on my last day got slammed with a bad dust and then sandstorm. The sand around Chaco is very fine like powder so it doesn't take much wind to stir it up. I have asthma from Covid and have to be careful. I was hiking to a couple of pueblos when dust clouds started blowing in from the side canyons, triggering a asthma attack. I used my rescue inhaler but even with a mask on my O2 was down to 90%. But it got worse I looked up canyon and there was a huge sand storm coming up the canyon a grey cloud going from the ground up to the sky. I drove my van back to camp and just threw everything in the van and headed out of the park. As I got out of the park and hit the dirt road the storm caught up to me and my van was getting pelted by the sand. It started drifting over the road like snow so I punched it and drove as fast as possible on the waffle dirt road. I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a small caravan of vehicles behind me also trying to escape the storm. I had to drive a couple of hours east of Albuquerque to get out of the dust and breath clean air. Chaco is a great place to visit but if you have medical issue its a long way to get help, The park is in the middle of the Navaho reservation and is very remote.

 

[TooFarGone]

Wow, @Mattkcc - it's good that you got out of Chaco in the nick of time. I'm here to endorse your advice to stay away, if at all possible, from areas getting high winds. I've hit the road twice in the last six weeks - and encountered high winds both times. In the Texas Panhandle, and throughout New Mexico. I've just cancelled a trip I'd scheduled to begin tomorrow, to stay in a couple of New Mexico state parks in the NE and central parts of the state. The high winds are continuing, and the fire danger is high. And that huge fire is still burning.

It's hard to enjoy the outdoors when the wind is so strong it's ripping car doors out of your grasp, even if there's no smoke in the air. I do believe that these high wind conditions in this whole region, not limited to New Mexico, are historic. I have family in SW Oklahoma, an agricultural area where people are tuned into the weather. My cousin there told me that the number of days they've had high winds this spring, are the most since - 1951. Wow. On both my recent road trips I was fighting high winds as I drove, and on each trip I saw flipped semis on their sides in the median or off the side of the highway. Yikes.

I hope everyone out there is careful and stays safe.

 

[Morgana]

Stay away from Albuquerque.

Because...?

This forum has both fans and foes of Albuquerque. Opinion, preference. \_(••)_/ Personal experience, which can vary.

I like the place. It's got plenty of art and music without the "look at me, I'm an arts mecca" vibe. Lovely mountains on one side -- which you can clearly see while driving on any east-west street, so you always sort of feel connected to your surroundings -- and North America's only (?I think) rift valley on the other. A river. A train line. An aerial tram. Many fine museums. Petroglyphs. Pretty good public transportation by US standards. A good uni and a good community college. Hiking clubs. Decent parks.

A nice (at least, used to be, hope it still is) flea market. An intriguing network of still-functioning irrigation canals which you can take walks on. Multi-culti in a mostly relaxed, non-performative way. A refined attitude toward chile. The best Mexican eggs of anywhere I've been (yeah OK it's probably more famous for other dishes). A big sky. And within day- or weekend-trip distance of buckets of interesting places and events, including powwows and a balloon festival. (We used to joke that one of the best things about Albuquerque is how easy it is to get out of it... if you like nature, culture, or funky old stuff, there really is a lot to see around there.)

IMO, you could do worse.

 

[[email protected]]

Morgana I'm with you, Albuquerque has all of those things, the "but" is that it has a terrible reputation for auto theft and small trailer theft from motels and parks. If you are coming to Albuquerque be sure to secure your trailer, lock your car, remove any valuables to your motel room, and if you can disable your car so it can't be stolen. I don't know how many times on the news they report on bands and teams who have lost all of their equipment or instruments to theft. Be safe and enjoy your stay, advice from a New Mexican.

 

[tx2sturgis]

A river. A train line. An aerial tram. Many fine museums. Petroglyphs. Pretty good public transportation by US standards. A good uni and a good community college. Hiking clubs. Decent parks.

What? You didn't mention casinos? And Old Town? Great place to spend an afternoon or an evening with friends or solo. Lots to see and do.

Did I mention casinos?

A Tramway. Lots of casinos. Racetracks. Dont forget the casinos!