need help with day trips from albuquerque

We are flying into ABQ in April and will end in Santa Fe to stay with family. We%26#39;ve been to the area and have visited places like Mesa Verde, Bandelier, Taos, the Sandia Mountains, Tent Rocks....We plan to do some exploring before we go to Santa Fe. We are looking for new and different places to visit for hikes/walks, between ABQ and Santa Fe. We can drive maybe 3-4-5 hours between cities and have 2 nights to spare. Does someone know of parks, national monuments, hikes and so on, that would fit our itinerary? WE could go to UT, AZ, CO-whatever you come up with. I%26#39;ve been dissuaded from driving the 6 hours to Monument Valley, which was my first idea for this trip. Thanks.

need help with day trips from albuquerque

A four-hour drive from ABQ will put you in my neck of the woods (literally): Silver City and the SW quadrant of New Mexico. Lots of hiking in the Gila Wilderness (over 1500 miles of hiking trails) and over 3.3 million acres of forest. Other features of the area include the Gila Cliff Dwellings, City of Rocks State Park, and the town of Silver City itself.

need help with day trips from albuquerque

I would recommend making a trip over to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, not quite as far as Monument Valley. It%26#39;s a beautiful drive and well worth seeing. It%26#39;s unique among National Monuments in that the canyon is still inhabited by traditional Navajo farmers and herders. You can spend the night in Chinle, right next to the Canyon - I recommend the Thunderbird Lodge there. There%26#39;s a hike you can take on your own into the canyon to the White House Ruin, and you can also hire a guide if you want to see more of the canyon, by jeep or horseback or on foot. If you have time, you can make the loop back to ABQ/Santa Fe via Chaco Canyon National Monument which is also worth a visit. Coming back via Cuba, you could also make a side trip to Jemez Springs, another beautiful spot.

Thank you so far. We have also been to Canyon de Chelly, one of the most glorious places to visit, I agree.We did exactly as you suggested. I am not familiar with Silver City, so I will look into that. As for Chaco Canyon, since we will spend more time in Bandelier, are they ';similar'; in what we would experience?

Chaco Canyon is quite different from Bandelier - the landscape is more rugged and sparse, but still beautiful in its own way. The ruins in Chaco are much more extensive than in Bandelier, as many of the walls of the structures have been reconstructed. Chaco has a very interested history all its own.

Another thought for you to consider is White Sands National Monument to the south. You could combine it with a visit either to Las Cruces/El Paso or Ruidoso and the %26#39;Billy the Kid%26#39; country. If you%26#39;re down that way, it%26#39;s also worth stopping at the three site of the Salinas National Monuments near Mountainair.

I%26#39;ve always been intrigued with White Sands. How long would it take us to drive there from Albuquerque? I%26#39;ve also heard of Las Cruces. Again-length of drive? What might be a town in which to spend a night or two while there? Thanks, Thomas. Keep the ideas coming!

If you have 3 days, 2 nights to spend out of Albuquerque/Santa Fe I would consider taking in Carlsbad Caverns in the SE (a five hour drive from Albuquerque), and you could drive back through Cloudcroft (9,000ft. elevation in the pines), to Alamogordo, White Sands, and Las Cruces. (Or Alamogordo if you need more time in the caverns.) There are many motels at LC, and you%26#39;d want to visit Old Mesilla, just south of LC. Return north on I-25 through Truth or Consequences, and Socorro to Alb./SF. LC to Albuquerque, about 3 1/2-4 hours.

If you haven%26#39;t been there yet. The San Juan Mountains above Durango (Silverton, Ouray, etc.) is gorgeous mountain scenery, with old mining towns, now major tourist attractions. An excellent narrow-gauge steam railroad runs between Durango and Silverton.

Durango is about 4 hours from Albuquerque, and you pass by the entrance into Chaco Canyon on US550. From the highway, you have about 25 miles of mostly dirt (actually more like clay) road. It can be bad if not completely dry. The nine, stone villages you find at road%26#39;s end makes the detour worth while...in ';good'; weather. A World Heritage Site. Anasazis lived here for over 500 years.

Either of the above could be done in three days, two nights. In the former, 1st night in Carlsbad, second night in Las Cruces. The second suggestion, both nights in Durango...up to Ouray, and back. The Aztec National Monument in Aztec, NM is also a good stop for pueblo ruins...especially if you are bypassing Chaco.

Yes, we have been in Durango and driven the Million Dollar Highway past mining towns and Ouray and on to, eventually, Telluride. As spectacular as that trip, including Mesa Verde, I do remember driving from Santa Fe, through Taos, and having to take a detour up to CO towards our destination, Durango. We watched a Narrow Gauge RR train making its way somewhere, and on into forest scenery. It was so beautiful, I thought we should return some year. Is this too vague for you to figure out where we might have been traveling? We did not pass the entrance to Chaco, but must have been detoured further east. If you can figure out where we might have been, is this an area in which we could spend a couple of days exploring? If there is a name for this area of forest and mountains, I could do some digging myself. I realize we may be been into CO by this point in the trip, but just over the NM border. On the other hand, is Carlsbad ';worth'; a visit? Thank you again.

Carlsbad is definitely worth a trip!

I believe the other railway you are referring to must be the Cumbres-Toltec Scenic Railroad, with terminals in Antonito CO and Chama NM. Also worth a trip! But since you%26#39;ve been to Durango/Silverton, and you haven%26#39;t seen Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands, I think that would get my vote this trip, if I were voting.

From Durango, you can take the Durango-Silverton railroad. You might also have been, via your description, near Chama, in New Mexico, which has its own railroad line. You might have been there. Just search for Chama and see if that%26#39;s where you were last trip, and yes, plenty of scenic beauty in the area.

I also think you were seeing the Cumbres %26amp;

Toltec Narrow Gauge. I%26#39;m guessing you had to divert from Tres Piedras north to Antonito, and then west over Cumbres Pass to Chama, NM. (U.S. 64 between Tres Piedras, and Tierra Amarilla is closed once the snows come...or it was closed for repairs at the time you passed by.

I%26#39;m happy that you%26#39;ve seen so much of Northern New Mexico, and Southern Colorado, and wish to keep coming back! :-)

I%26#39;d make a pitch for Carlsbad Caverns, the mountains in the Cloudcroft/Ruidoso areas, White Sands National Monument, Las Cruces, old Mesilla just south of there, and possibly up into the Silver City, Gila Cliff Dwellings area, with a scenic return to Caballo Lake (@ I-25) via the highway east from Silver City over the mountains of the ';Black Range.'; You could do this out of Albuquerque in 2 nights, 2 1/2 or 3 days out.