Tag Archives: National Monument

Camping, Hiking

Tent Rocks and Lake Cochiti ~New Mexico

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I have wanted to go to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument since watching this Less Junk More Journey video. We also took their advice and stayed at Cochiti Lake Campground (An Army Corps Campground).
We went right after setting up our site since it was so close to our campground. We decided to not do the whole hike that day but planned on coming back to go to the top.
Only the main hike was open when we went but it was a very interesting hike. This was our turnaround spot for that day. They are redoing a lot of the campground so that the showers and bathrooms are really nice in some areas but closed or rundown in others.

Our spot was beautiful but it was in the area with closed bathrooms.

Which was unfortunate since I really wanted a shower.

Ha

Also, there was a mixup so we had to move to a different spot after the first night.

We drove down to a different bathhouse so I still thankfully got a shower 😉

The sunsets from our spot were beautiful.

The boys hang out outside a lot. Our second spot was right next to the first and had an even better sunset view. We went on our second hike at Tent Rocks on a Sunday Morning right after it opened. This time we were prepared to hike to the top. The kids brought snacks for the top and water. It is a pretty steep climb but worth it for the view. So breathtaking. With our National Park Pass the campground was 50% off so it was only $10 a night for water and electric!

We were at this campground for four nights so we did a lot of other stuff in the area as well!

I will share what we did in Las Alamos and Santa Fe next!

Camping, Hiking

Camping on the Rio Grande

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I was pretty disappointed after visiting the Upper Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument that we were not camping up there.

I just could not figure out how to fit it in this trip.I had planned on us heading south to a campground that I only knew about from some references on google maps.

After looking into it more I realized it was also a part of Rio Grande Del Norte, it was just the lower part!

It was called Pillar campground and had water and electric hookups!

We had not had either of those for 3 nights so it was a nice change.

It was not as pretty as the ones in the upper part but it was still a nice surprise.

While staying there we drove on a crazy “road” up to the Gorge Bridge.

It was pretty but there were a lot of people and not really my cup of tea.

My friend actually stayed the night at the rest stop there and talks more about it in her post!

We also went for this hike on the La Vista Verde trail on our way back to our campsite and it was so pretty. I was not ready to leave this area at all and wanted to stay longer but we only had two weeks so we started heading further south the next day and got to see one of the main things I went to see.

Animals, Hiking, My Family

Staying in a Pine Forest, Surrounded by Mountains

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After leaving the wildlife refuge, we went just an hour or so west to Cimarron Canyon State Park.

This was a stop I was not sure about, I thought we would stay at Eagle Nest State Park which was 15 mins or so away but after seeing the spots decided to stay at Cimarron instead.

The Maverick Campground at Cimarron Canyon smelled amazing from all the pine trees and and was nestled in the mountains.

Because of how early in the year it was there was no water at the campground and the bathrooms were closed.

They did have porta potties set up though.

There was also no electric.

We did need to find a store for water pretty quick though since we were running low.

 

I loved the area but after driving around I found a spot I would have loved to stay at.

Next time I want to stay at Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument!

The campgrounds are beautiful!

And the views are breathtaking.

I am so glad that we got a National Park Pass for the trip!

We got into all the National Monuments we visited on it, got half off one of our campsites(Army Corps Site), and into a National Wildlife Refuge including camping at no extra cost.

I could have stayed in this area for weeks if not months but we needed to start heading south so we only stayed for two days.

We had also planned on driving up into the Wheeler Peak while there but the road was still snowed in we were told.

Still it was a breaktaking, beautiful area.

So glad we got to stay in this amazing area!

I want to go back and stay longer next time!