In late June we found some friends to join us for camping in Northern NM. We started out with an afternoon at the Great Sand Dunes—the conditions were perfect. Lots of wide shallow water for safe play with minimal parenting, no mosquitoes, and nice hot sun. I love the sand dunes… when the conditions are just right. The campground right next to the dunes however, is always gruesome. The campground has little shade, so it’s always hot, and campsites are super close so everybody is right on top of each other, and at the wrong time of year it’s filled with mosquitoes. All of that makes it my idea of camping hell. I generally despise campgrounds
Usually when we visit the dunes, we end up driving up Medano pass quite a ways (~half an hour minimum) to camp amongst the Aspens, away from the crowds. But the road requires full-on 4wd, and usually you need to bleed your tires down to ~20-25 psi besides, in order to get through the first big sand pit, and even past the sand pits it’s slow and bumpy with numerous river crossings. But mainly slow and bumpy. There aren’t any other good options for car camping close to the dunes.
This time we just did the dunes for the day, then backtracked two hours to an area we have been frequenting right on the NM/CO border, near the remote Osier train station. I liked that combination, of sitting at the dunes for the day and then leaving enough time in the late afternoon to drive elsewhere for camping.
Our friends roll with a small camper setup, so my aim was “remote as possible yet still on good forest roads.”
Our spot was prime. Really really good. It’s probably about half an hour on the dirt forest roads to reach it (maybe two hours total from the dunes). We were underneath some monstrous pines, but also on the edge of an aspen grove and a nice alpine meadow. No bugs to speak of; dappled sunlight; breeze enough for Ian to fly a kite. Cool at night, warm during the day. The forest was open enough for the kids to wander a ways, yet still keep camp in sight. I think this was my favorite spot yet of those that we’ve tried out in that area.
During the day we drove past Osier station down to the river—which was really flowing. I would not have felt comfortable doing the crossing in the xterra at that level. But it was super fun throwing rocks into it for a half hour (for the kids of course). There were even some lingering snow patches (it was a great snow year). Evening highlights included a steak cook-off on the campfire and mojitos. Steak and mojitos in the woods around a campfire with good friends and satisfied kids!
