After exploring CO as full-time RVers for over three months, we finally crossed the border to a different state — New Mexico! We were worried we may have gotten too spoiled by the beauty in CO, and that the other states may not seem as interesting in comparison. But our first couple of stops in New Mexico proved otherwise!
We stopped for a couple of hours to explore the Aztec Ruins National Monument since we were passing right by it on our way to the Angel Peak Scenic Area. We had looked at their parking lot using Google Map’s satellite image and saw they had RV parking. Fortunately, there was one spot left when we got there, so we were able to stop. It was definitely easier to get to than Mesa Verde had been. We listened to an audio tour as we walked around, which made it a bit more interesting than just looking on our own.
We made a pretty big mistake mapping to the Angel Peak area. It’s BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, with free camping, and didn’t have a particular address to map to. We mapped to Angel Peak Scenic Area, thinking we’d see the camping area as we drove along the rode. In the past, we’ve taken the bikes off the rack and scouted out the location before driving too far down a dirt road in the big rig, but we knew the camping area was about 10 miles further, which was too far to bike. Since the reviews of the road were good and there was supposedly a loop to turn around in at the end, we decided to risk it. A few miles in, when we hit a stretch of soft dirt, Randy said, “I’m not sure about this”. But I reminded him how a review said it was worth persevering and not letting the dirt road intimidate you, so we kept going. After 7 or 8 miles, I mentioned that I had expected to see the picnic areas that were mentioned in the reviews by now, but we kept going. It took us about 45 minutes to drive about 13 miles before getting to a closed gate. I was able to open the gate, but on the other side was a washed out road. And there was NOT a place to turn around! At this point, I was still confused at what went wrong and Randy was tired from being so tense while driving the bad roads.
We had made it to the point on the map called Angel Peak Scenic Area, though, and the view from there was amazing! So we took a minute to try to appreciate it, took a few pictures, then started the long process of backing up to a place where we could get turned around.
I walked behind to keep a better eye on things, and we talked on our walkie talkies. The straight parts of the road were easy, but backing around curves is deceivingly difficult (at least for people with not much experience). The road wasn’t very wide and the edges were usually a steep drop off or a wall of dirt and bushes. The truck’s nose would get to one of those edges before the trailer would get to a good angle. About and hour and a half later, we had backed up about a mile to an intersection / side road — we had to use our collapsable shovel to level out the edges so we could turn wide enough; we broke off a few branches in our way; and put boards down in a few ruts to keep the trailer and truck from contacting (which it did at least once, but with very little damage). Once we finally got turned around, we drove a little further to find a spot where we could pull off enough for cars to get pass, then took a break to eat dinner. We weren’t sure yet where we were supposed to have gone and the best way to get there, so we decided to ride our bikes around after dinner to figure things out. We found the campground about 1.5 miles from where our rig was now parked, but it was down a road that was not passable. We talked to people at the campground to learn the directions to the “Angel Park Scenic Area” took us down a different road from where the camping area was! We needed to go all the way back out to the main road and come in on a different dirt road in order to get to there. By the time we got back to the rig, it was getting dark so we decided to just stay there for the night.
About 7 am the next morning, we started hearing traffic going beside us. We ignored it for another hour or two, then got up and made the drive over to the right area. Low and behold, the dirt road to the campground was much wider and better maintained than the other road we had gone down. It was a piece of cake to drive to the correct location. We had to back up a hill and around a tree to get into our site, but we did it in just a couple of tries! I guess we at least learned some backing skills the day before, so there’s that.
So, lesson learned: Always put in the lat/long coordinates of a BLM location instead of using a named location that the GPS suggests!!
We were finally able to relax and enjoy the area more once we settled into the camping site. We went for a hike and walked along a narrow ridge, to get further out into the middle of the scenery. One of the photos below shows our RV sitting on the rim, which Randy took on our hike. Needless to say, we had spectacular views from our RV! So, in the end, yes, Angel Peak is definitely worth the trip down the long dirt road — just make sure it’s the CORRECT dirt road!!
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