New Mexico from dust to dirt and back: Villanueva, Sante Fe, Bandelier, Jemez Falls

Just came back from a short NM weekend trip.
Started in Lubbock>Villanueva State Park>Sante Fe Hostel due to AirBnB pipe breaking day of>Jemez Falls Campground>Lubbock.
Villanueva SP is a little hidden gem on the way to New Mexico.


In the morning we left to go hike Nambe Lake Trail, East of Sante Fe. There were a bunch of salamanders in the lake.


Then we went to Bandolier to see Frijole Valley.

Spent the night at Jemez Falls Campground which was very nice, nestled in the pine trees.

The most Tacoma intensive part was taking Forest Road 289 from Hwy 4 to Cochiti Lake.

About 100 feet down a turnoff we ran into a downed tree so we had to backtrack and find an alternate route.

Saw some horned mountain lions.

Here’s what the road looked like for the most part.


You could see Cochiti lake as a shiny speck in the distance.

Every once in a while we would get a glimpse of it as it became bigger and bigger.

The transition from forest to desert was also really cool. The road itself was good in spots and rough in others. The most interesting part of the road was near the end when it dropped down into a creek with big rocks. I was in my completely stock off road and highway tires but still got through with nimble navigating. I didn’t take many pictures of the river bed because it was a flash flood area and there were some sketchy looking clouds coming over the mountains behind us. There was a locked gate at the very end which had the help number scratched out. There was a hole in the fence to circumvent the gate.


https://imgur.com/a/AHe9gxg

 

I would like to see that fence LOL.

 

There ya go

 

Cool trip

 

That last photo of the locked gate happened to me in NM, too! I was driving a designated backcountry byway route between Church Rock and Pie Town, and came up to a locked gate. There were no cut fences to drive though, so I had to go back. It was winter and the frozen mud and clay thawed out on my return trip. That was fun, especially since the signs said impassable when wet- but it was frozen the morning I started out on it, so no problems, I thought. I still have some of that clay coating my exhaust where it baked on, too. Amazing country out there.

Sounds like a great trip!

 

Very nice

 

Looks like a great trip. Sounds like your rig got you where you wanted to go and you learned some things about it along the way. Thanks for sharing.