Taos New Mexico area vacation
 

Looking for anyone in the Taos area to take the wife and I around site seeing during the week of June 10-16, 2018.

We have a 86 cherokee, half-hemi, 4 speed with 3 1/2" lift on 30 x9.50 tires.

I'm 60 and she's 64, so we're not into crazy rock crawling adventures. Mainly looking for easy to moderate trails to site see and enjoy some company. We have secured housing in the Taos area.

If your in the area and wouldn't mind showing some flatlander Texans around a bit, it would be cool. We have been about everywhere on a Harley but not jeeping in the mountains.

You can PM me if you like or just respond to the post.

Many thanks.

Happy Jeepin'

TexasTaz38

taos is an area that i frequent. I'm always between taos and santa fe doing thingsbut i wont be around when you will be....i never really understood the Taos tourist thing. Lots and lots of art and culture but never was my cup of tea....for being in a mountainous area, there isnt much 4 wheeling up there. They have a top ski resort in the country, good food, and good people but i dont go there unless I'm visiting friends or going to the resort....if youre not on a schedule, i would recommend visiting red river. Its about 30 miles or so away and is a beautiful place and where the most trails are.

https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/1588-goose-lake

that trail is super popular in the area but there are others listed there as well.

the taos/red river/eagles nest/angel fire area as a whole is a beautiful area, and I think you'll enjoy your time.

I agree, not much in Taos but a free for the week house. We will be totally mobile, going to trailer the Cherokee. We wanted to base out of Red River, stayed there on the Harley numerous times but I'll have my dog with us and he is blind and insulin dependent and it seems that none of the cabins wanted dogs so....a free house it is in Taos.

Yes, I want to return to Goose Lake, went there as a kid, back when they rented little Honda 70's down there on Main street. Long, long time ago. lol Made that ride on that little Honda. Tough machine.

Thanks for the link and response.

TexasTaz38

What a beautiful week of Jeepin'. Just returned from the week in Taos, Red River, and Eagle Nest area of New Mexico.


As note by Martlor13, there isn't a whole lot of major level jeepin in the area but there are a lot of really nice drives and light jeepin opportunities in the area. Mostly just fire roads in all the areas. Goose Lake trail in Red River is by far the toughest trail that was open to jeeps. There are a couple of others listed as difficult but are limited to 50" or less wheel base or closed due to the elk calving season.


We did not complete the Goose Lake trail as our jeepin companion had a nearly new 1997 box stock trailer queen wrangler and didn't want to damage it so.....we went back down before completing the run. From what we did of the trail, it was probably about as tough as I would want to do in my cherokee as it set up now. A big tired, big lift, geared 4.0 would be a comfortable ride up the trail.


As for the trail, pretty nasty tire eating rocks with sharp edges and numerous switchbacks. I can see ruptured sidewalls as a common thing on this trail. We went mid-week and didn't meet anyone else on the trail coming or going. I would still like to make the trail with a more experienced lead jeep.


Anyway, great week, no break downs and a safe return.


Happy Jeepin'
Texas Taz 38

nice man!! I havent been up goose lake in awhile. Pretty difficult for a stockish jeep huh? There is an even harder trail called 4th of July canyon i believe....what else you do while there? Youjust missed the huge fire that was in the area. The ute park fire. Nearly 40k acres burned and cimarron, about 25ish miles from eagles nest, was completely evacuated. I dont believe any of the enchanted circle was harned though...we are hoping to be in red river the weekend after the 4th of july.

4th of July I believe was one of the trails closed for elk calving, it and Greenie Peak were supposed to open this weekend.


We didn't miss the fire, cimmiron to eagle nest on 64 was still closed when we went up. we had to come up from the south on the west side of the mountains. It was about an hour longer trip. Red River, Eagles Nest and Angel Fire were nearly ghost towns when we got there. I think it was wednesday or thursday that the forest service opened 64 back up. We came home that way. Philmont is toast with a lot of hot spots still smoldering.


We stopped by the information center there in Red River and picked up a trail map ($5) and the little trail sheet. We covered about all the jeep trails they had listed that were open. Again, i believe by the time you go, all the trails should be open.


We met quite a few people headed up that way with atvs and jeeps etc coming home so maybe it's going to pick back up in the area. We didn't meet a half dozen other vehicles on the trails the whole week so information from others was non-existent.


We did alot of freelance fire road exploration. Just found a FR sign and took off. Some were good, some not so good. i wish i would have documented the FR numbers where we went. We actually stayed in Valle Escondido, about 8 miles from Angel Fire.

Ok, yeah my timeline is a bit off.....i have tons of family in cimarron. Most work at Philmont. The ranch wasnt severly affected but they did shut down the boy scout activities until next month. Sucks for those kids because philmont is supposed to be one of the best camps in the nation.

sounds like you had a blast. Thats all that really counts. Most roomsare booked for the werkend iplan on going so it must be picking up steam.

We will be there the week of 4th of July. Thinking about hooking up a Tow Bar to the Tahoe and dragging the XJ out there from DFW. Might be fun and save some money... it's almost $200/4 hours to rent a crappy jeep in town.

yea, that's the whole reason I built my first xj. $200 for 4 hours and your still responsible for any damage including a ruined tire. I probably have 2k-3k in my whole xj build and can do with it as i please on my own time schedule. We did 1 fire road on tuesday last week and were almost 7 hours just piddling around.



If you can take your own without too much trouble I would. If you come up 287 to Dumas then over through Dalhart to Clayton to Springer NM to Cimmaron to Eagles Nest then Red River, you can easily flat tow to red river.


They just reopened highway 64 from Cimmaron to Eagles nest late last week due to the Ute Park fire. We were able to come back that way.


Pick up a recreational map at the community center there in Red River ($5) and the free trail sheet and that should keep you busy for the week. I don't know if I would do Goose Lake if I were flat towing the xj. It is pretty rough with lots of sharp edged rocks that are heck on tires.


Have a great week and Happy Jeepin'
:cowboy: TexasTaz


P.S. If you get anywhere near Amarillo and have an issue, I live in Pampa and would help you if you need any. PM me and I'll get you my cell number.

Taz,

Thank you so much for the advice and the offer of assistance if needed. I really appreciate it. :thumbsup:

Ugh... just got word that Carson National Forest is closed. Only the Red-River valley area is open (tourist area), and only private land is available for 4 wheelin'. Most folks are charging money for that, and only allowing company lead tours on their land.

https://taosnews.com/stories/carson-...s-others,49185

Soooo... don't know if it's worth it to tow out there yet. Rain is forecast for mid-week, so maybe the ban will be lifted by the end of the week.

Keeping an eye on it.

Yea, they already had all kinds of fire prevention rules in place when we were there. No smoking outside, period. Indoors only smoking or in your vehicle. No chainsaws allowed. The only cooking fires were on a grill with a fuel shut off, no charcoal or campfire cooking. One of the park rangers we talked to said they were in the worst drought in over 80 years. We got a couple of light rain showers while we were there but the rain never got the ground under the trees wet. Really sad, as bad or worse than our current drought up here in the Panhandle.

Make sure to go tour the Earthships!!!

I'm a scammer trying to steal from you.