buckminster

Doing some research for our upcoming trip and discovered that Tent Rocks near Santa Fe will be closed for most of the summer because they are rebuilding the access road. It will be closed from June 1 to about July 31.

This was quite a surprise since I had been on the BLM site and saw nothing there. But stumbled upon a press release.

We really want to go there so now we may rearrange our whole trip since we arrive on 5/29 and will have to go see it the first day or two before it closes.

DebitNM

The road is dirt and often very rutted, so this is a good thing, but the timing is awful! You'd think they could have done this before summer visitor season! But then, that's NM for you!

DebitNM

OK, change your itin to this: on arrival day, head from airport to Tent Rocks. Then continue on to Santa Fe. Bring plenty of water with you. {IF you aren't in great physical condition, take it slow and easy as it will be hot in afternoon, and the altitude might bother you}

This means skipping the Turquoise Trail on the way to Santa Fe.

When you head back to ABQ for last day [s] you can get over to Turquoise Trail in place of doing Tent Rocks. Or you could do Jemez Springs area and Coronado Monument.

Don't let this throw you, plenty of ways to fix this for you.

buckminster

Yeah, that's an option we are considering.

Or, we could stay at Tamaya at the beginning of our trip instead of the last two nights. Then head to Taos from there for a couple of nights, then do our last 3 nights in Santa Fe. Our flight home on Sat 6/5 leaves about 1:15 pm so that should give us plenty of time to get to ABQ from Santa Fe, I guess.

It does seem like strange timing to do it right when school gets out, but I wondered if the weather in the spring is too unpredictable and maybe they didn't want to wait until Sept.

DebitNM

we could stay at Tamaya at the beginning of our trip instead of the last two nights. Then head to Taos from there for a couple of nights, then do our last 3 nights in Santa Fe. Our flight home on Sat 6/5 leaves about 1:15 pm so that should give us plenty of time to get to ABQ from Santa Fe, I guess.

Drive time from SF [plaza area] to airport on a Saturday would be about 90 minutes top.

buckminster

Thanks, that's no problem then.

Except I forgot about driving the Turquoise Trail and how to fit that in. We definitely want to go to Tent Rocks, but maybe driving T. Trail is not a must do?


Option 1 (No Turquoise Trail)--2 nights Tamaya, 2 nights Taos, 3 nights Santa Fe

Sat--Arrive, go to Tamaya, chill, hike around there, swim...(adjust to altitude)
Sun--Tent Rocks (Sleep at Tamaya a second night)
Mon-- Drive to Taos. (Stay overnight)
Tues-- Do some hiking near Taos (Stay overnight)
Wed--Drive to Santa Fe for three nights
Thurs--Bandolier
Fri--Ghost Ranch area
Sat--Leave for ABQ airport, no time to drive/stop along Tur. Trail

Option 2--1 night Tamaya, 3 nights Santa Fe, 2 nights Taos, 1 night ABQ downtown

Sat--Arrive, go to Tamaya, spend night
Sun--Check out after breakfast, go to Tent Rocks, afterwards, drive to Santa Fe and spend night
Mon--Bandolier, stay in Santa Fe
Tue--Ghost Ranch area stay in Santa Fe
Wed--Drive to Taos, spend night
Thurs--Hike near Taos
Fri--Spend day driving back to ABQ, taking high road from Taos and then Turquoise Trail, spend night in downtown hotel in ABQ
Sat--Leave

Option 3--4 nights Santa Fe, 2 nights Taos, 1 night ABQ (no Tamaya)

Sat--Arrive, drive Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe, spend 4 nights there.
Sun--Tent Rocks
Mon--Bandolier or Ghost Ranch
Tues--Ghost Ranch or Bandolier
Wed--Drive to Taos, spend night
Thurs-Hike near Taos, spend night
Fri--Drive from Taos to ABQ at our leisure, spend night downtown ABQ

We're leaning towards option 3 right now since option 1 has no Turquoise Trail and option 2 has too many hotel changes. And we don't want to do any hiking the day we land since it will be hot and we'll be getting acclimated to the altitude.

DebitNM

You are going to have so many nice roads to drive, that I honestly don't think doing the Turquoise Trail is a must. I'd imagine you are only going to stop in Madrid and have a look see at the shops and maybe a bite to eat at Mine Shaft Tavern. That said, I would skip the trail.

If you do option 1, you will have time to do another activity on Sunday as Tent Rocks will only take up about 1/2 of the morning. Jemez, San Ysidro, Corrales, even a jaunt into ABQ for an activity are all possibilities.

I'd go with 1 and add activities.

FWIW, if you leave Santa Fe early enough, you could drive down the Turquoise Trail to get to the airport.

buckminster

Yes, after I posted that I read some more in my guide book and realized that while interesting, driving the T. Trail wasn't actually that important to us. Our first priority is the natural scenery and it would be fun to check out the little towns but it just doesn't work out. And as you say, we could still drive through them on our way back as long as we don't stop for long.

Thanks again for all your help!

AnnMarie_C

Thanks for the heads-up, buckminster, I'll keep an eye on this as I have plans to go in September.

DebitNM

AnnMarie, how long will you be in NM in Sept?

emd3

You will love the Tamaya. We stayed there two nights at the end of March. I hope you have a mountain view rm. The food in the Blue Corn at dinner is good. DO try to walk some of the trails, esp down to the Rio Grande river.

AnnMarie_C

Hi Deb, will be there 4 nights for the GTG. I was disappointed to miss Tent Rocks during my last trip there, hoping to squeeze it in this time.

utahtea

Just an update on Tent Rocks, as of Sunday, September 20, 2010, the park is still closed! I waited till the day before we had to leave the Santa Fe area but that still wasn't long enough.

DebitNM

I didn't realize you were in the area utahtea! We could have broken bread....

I am watching for the opening and will start a thread when Tent Rocks opens.

BeachGirl247

Well, heck! I was there, too, Utahtea. I was disappointed it wasn't open yet either.

Santa Fe Time = Island Time. It'll get done when it's done.

utahtea

Hi DebitNM,

We missed the Santa Fe GTG by a few days We haven't know where we were going to be until that day! We've been just traveling where we want for as long as we want! Our only reservations are in Zion from Oct 7 - Oct. 11 to celebrate our anniversary and then we have to head home to babysit our granddogs...lol!

Utahtea

utahtea

BeachGirl247...I guess we will both have to go back someday!

Utahtea

DebitNM

FWIW - Tent Rocks was still closed when we drove by on Friday on the way to get apples from Dixon Apple Orchard. No dates mentioned re: opening.