NM Adventure Series

Got away for a while yesterday up to the Gila. Found nothing but visitors splashing in the river and loads of sucker fish. Had fun driving the taco anyway...

 

Hey guys, so I just got back into town yesterday from a week long road trip. We covered a lot in a short amount of time but now we know what we want to go back and explore some more.

Here was our trip.

Saturday: Albuquerque -> Denver
stayed with a friend and hung out in the city.

Sunday: Denver -> RMNP
camped at Moraine campground for a night and hiked a little bit. Of course a storm rolled in so we had to head back down the trail to the truck.




Monday: RMNP -> Lander Wy
In the morning I wanted to run an easy trail (Old Fall River Road) on the way out of the park but of course it was closed. We took Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake CO still a beautiful drive but no dirt sadly. We saw some great sites and a variety of animals on the way. We stayed at an AirBnb in Lander which had a sweet FJ40 in the back. If you’re ever around go to Cowfish the food and beer is great.



Tuesday: Lander -> Grand Tetons
Left Lander early to head to the NP as we had to be there at 10am to get our backpacking permit. The only site avalible the day we were there was Phelps Lake a god damn was it amazing. There was a sweet taco with a GFC camper in the lot for the trail head.







Wednesday: Grand Tetons -> Yellowstone
We hiked out from the camp site early and made it to the trail head around 9ish. From there we took HWY 191 through the park by Jackson lake toward Yellowstone. This was a long day made a huge loop through Yellowstone saw some Elk, Carabou, Black bear, Grizzly, and of course buffalo.






Thursday: Yellowstone -> Timpooneke Campground
We left Yellowstone and headed out west trough West Yellowstone down through Idaho to our campground. Sadly I never took any pictures of the campground but I was a great place in the mountains to camp.

Friday: Timpooneke -> Canyonlands, Arches, Moab
We left the campground fairly early and headed to Canyonlands and Arches. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time there becuse of the heat but we ran though Shafer Trail which is super easy but some really steep drop offs. On the way out you pass the Potash Ponds which is really cool. I didn’t take any pictures in Arch’s on my phone and we didn’t wheel Moab unfortunately just stayed the night.





Saturday: Moab -> Mesa Verde and home
Mesa Verde was an after thought on the top but figured it was on the way home so might as well stop. A lot of the cool places to go you needed tickets for a ranger guided tour which we missed out on becuse of the time constraint we had. Still a really amazing place we want to go back to.



Annnnd finally home after 6 states, 6 National Parks, & 2,733 miles.

 

That looks amazing. I'm jealous!

 

Ya man it was an awesome time. Let’s grab some drinks soon and I’ll return your wrench.

 

Just let me know when you want to get a beer. Lets try to plan a trip or 2 also.

 

I’m late on this, but where are you located? Southern part of the state I’m guessing if you went to the Gila?

 

Yes, I live in Cruces and went up to the Gila. Nothing but suckers and tourists unfortunately.

 

My wife and I just got back from FJ Summit out in Ouray. Met up with @Ripcord for a day and hit Corkscrew Pass, Hurricane Pass, California Pass, Cinnamon Pass, Engineers Pass, and Mineral Creek. There was a lot of evidence of avalanches throughout the area.

Corkscrew Pass





Hurricane Pass


California Pass


Cinnamon Pass


Engineers Pass






Mineral Creek (Probably the hardest trail we did)



Nitrogears truck got hit by an Elk while up there.

 

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 was actually thinking of running that road in the next week or 2, so thanks for the trail update!

 

The gate at the very end where 289 meets Cochiti HWY was locked tho. There was no other road for the entire length of 289 I could circumvent the gate with and I had no reception. I did see someone else had taken down some barbed wire fence on the side of the road to go around the gate.

 

Having some fun up in red river, Nm. Midnight meadows area




Greenie peak

 

You were on Cochiti Pueblo Indian land. That gate is locked because the Pueblo has complained about exactly what you did. I understand you did what was the only way to get back on pavement (other than back tracking), but there are signs up on top that say the gate is locked. I ask others (for the sake of those who live in the area and want access the National Forest from the Cochiti end) that others considering the that road to please respect the closed gate. It's a battle between those who want access, the SFNF, and Cochiti Tribe. The MO for the pueblo is that once a gate is closed (like they did with La Bajada and other places in the area), it takes years or it never opens up again...

 

Same thing happened to the old La Bajada road, got gated on the Cochiti end. I understand both sides concerns and as off roaders we need to make sure we abide by the law to try to lessen our influence on future closures. We are lucky to live in a state that has a lot of public land and it is frustrating to see access be restricted, but don't give people more excuses for closures.

That being said, is there anyone specific in Cochiti that might be able to grant access through these gates, even if by fee or permit? Sounds a lot like Monticello where a public road was closed because a few people were upset.

 

^^^

Yep, the loss of La Bajada and the Monticello Box were sad... If you call the SFNF district, they say it's a on an agreement basis with Cochiti Pueblo, and that the sticking point is the Pueblo. Outside of just calling the Tribal administration, I have not heard of anyone being "let in" from that end. hence the frustration sets in.

 

That is frustrating I’d like to think everyone here is respectful of the land ownership/gates but it takes one bad egg to ruin it for the rest of us.

On a side note of being respectful of others land I know there was some talk of getting a run together on the regular NM thread. I’d be interested in a day or weekend camping trip we should start looking into it. @Brian007Taco is new to the area and @Boss_Taco_177 is new to the forum so it be cool to welcome them with a trip.

 

Yea I saw the signs saying FR289 closed at the reservation which I wan't sure the location of or how old the sign was. I assumed it was due to construction or something so they might have finished already. But to make sure I asked some people on my way down the road about it and they said they were pretty sure that I wouldn't get to the reservation. Obviously in retrospect they didn't know shit. But lesson learned, ask about route on TW before going

 

Did someone say camping, because you had me at Camping!

 

Not positive yet but I think @Darth ToyTaco and I are going to try and get something going the weekend of the 24th if you and anyone else is interested. We’ll keep everyone posted.

 

You sir have my attention! Where is the question?