Criss-crossing the continental divide in search of new remote spots

We just returned from a three-night camping trip for labor-day weekend, exploring new areas in southern CO and northern NM. It was filled with the usual: the giggles of super happy little boys messing around in the tent at bedtime; Emerson laying in the dirt playing with his cars (everywhere); Jasper building lego creations (everywhere); and camping FAR away from everyone else.

And, of course, miles and miles of backroads driving. Despite our many trips around the region, there are still some big blank spots on the map… though two fewer after our efforts this weekend. We criss-crossed both the continental divide and the NM/CO border a handful of times, discovering spectacular new camp spots.

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For the first blank area, we left the pavement north of Wolf Creek pass, between Pagosa Springs and South Fork, and headed southeast through the Rio Grande national forest. We traveled 70 miles worth of dirt road and camped for two nights before reaching pavement on the southeast side, along route 17 between Chama and Antonito (follow along with the map). The highlight of this northern region was right in the middle, when the road reaches 11,600 ft elevation, crosses the continental divide, and circles around a large valley before dropping down to the extinct mining town of Stunner. The camping and views up in the high valley are fantastic, and it is QUITE far away from civilization. It feels out there…way, way out there. Just pull off the remote dirt road down another even more remote dirt road to find a campsite, and you will leave the last occasional vestige of a passing vehicle behind. The only residential area is the “town” of Platoro, with no real services to speak of other than a tiny general store with a handful of supplies, cold coke, t-shirts, and ice. One of the few residents said that it’s a two-hour trip to Alamosa for gas and supplies.

Our first campsite was at the head of a valley on the edge of some wilderness, next to an idyllic little alpine stream. The only bummer is the beetle kill, which has decimated the pine forest throughout the region (you can see it in the photos below). It’s so sad to see essentially the entire forest, standing dead. Only a small fraction of the pines were spared—in the next decade there will be a huge number of dead trees falling everywhere, and it will be decades before the forest recovers.

The second night we had to drive a bit; our first attempt up a backroad yielded no good options We ended up driving way up a bumpy road, then off the end when it ran out, into a high alpine meadow in the middle of nowhere—we definitely weren’t worried about anybody disturbing our solitude at that spot.

For the second blank region, we left the pavement along the paved road between Chama and Antonito (Rt 17), and headed south towards the CO/NM border. There’s a historic steam train that travels between Chama and Antonito, that we intend to ride with the boys but haven’t done yet. About an hour in, you reach Osier, one of the old train stations along that route, way down in the Chama river valley. The road into this valley is characterized by incredible views across green meadows interspersed with aspen and pine groves, with remote and primitive camping for miles along the road in. Remarkably, the dirt road as far as Osier station would be doable with a low-clearance 2WD vehicle—there were a few large camp trailers tucked in the trees along the way, and a Subaru visiting Osier when we passed through.

At the very bottom of the valley, just below the Osier Station, you cross Osier Creek… and leave the weaker vehicles behind. The road switchbacks up the southern side of the valley then travels south through the woods to meet up with the continental divide, crossing several small streams and becoming increasingly rough and difficult. (For the record, Karen says this is an understatement – let it be known that this section of the road is unreliable, as it could easily become impassable in spots, due to erosion, slippery mud, etc; and you should be very confident in your vehicle and off-road driving skills before attempting this portion of the road.)

There is a stretch at the top of the divide, for about half-mile, right on the western border of the Cruces Basin Wilderness, where the road drives along a bluff. The view to the east is incredible, over miles of meadows, streams, aspen and pine forest. You can pull off and camp amongst sparse pine right on the overlook. It sure isn’t easy to get to it—you have to earn it with long miles on bumpy 4WD roads—but it is truly on of the most impressive places I’ve ever considered camping. When we were up there, it was raining on us, with dark clouds and lightning headed toward us, so we elected to move on. Probably not the best place to be in a thunderstorm. But man I can’t wait to get back there, perhaps during one of the meteor showers, or even in a few weeks for the aspen colors.

Instead of camping at the exposed high point during a thunderstorm, we continued on, found a short steep muddy section to slide down sideways (in the car; exciting!), regrouped with a beer, and settled in a sheltered spot (also awesome) in some denser forest. Our spot was far enough away from the already remote backroad to feel like we would never be found.

It rained intermittently the whole weekend, which was – quite frankly – wonderful. We got at least a little rain each night to help us sleep. For the camp, we came prepared with the canopy, and it was worth every penny. Whenever the rain started back up, we had a place to cook and eat and the kids could play.

In full disclosure, we did fail to take into account that [the end of] August and September, and October for that matter, are prime hunting months, and Labor Day weekend must be the absolute busiest. Consequently, both areas we explored had their fair share of hunting parties, ATV’s, horses, trucks, and trailers. Fortunately, this did not affect our trip nearly as much as it could have. It did mean that some of the nicer campsites we spotted were occupied, but the terrain allowed enough room for everyone. Though our exploration efforts were slightly inconvenienced by the opening of hunting season, it was good to know that even on perhaps the busiest weekend of the year, we were able to find plenty of solitary spots.

To summarize, we spent a lot of time in the car, but were rewarded with the most beautiful parts of New Mexico that I’ve ever seen. We were saddened by the beetle kill and wowed by the Aspen. The boys were—as usual—happy and comfortable and treated the whole thing (the long drive and getting rained on and remoteness and cold nights and cooking on the fire and pooping in the woods) like it was a perfectly normal part of life. Which it is, and is the whole point, right? We discovered a handful of spectacular new campsites to which we are eager to return… that is, when we have the motivation to do a long bumpy remote 4WD road again. Though on that note, I still have an idea for a slightly shorter route in from the west that I would like to explore someday…