Read below before going!…read more 1. Make sure your car can travel through the terrain. We took our minivan (thankfully it was a dry week) and made it through. It was a bit rocky. 2. Load the trail on your phone on All Trails (download it) because the service is rough. 3. Bring your towel and water shoes, the rocks can be rocky when going from pool to pool. 4. The earlier the better in the summer. And apparently it can get busy. (It did for us) 5. Everyone is friendly, make sure you're friendly too! Seriously one of the coolest things in nature. My kids loved it, we could have spent hours here. If I didn't have a train to catch (literally) we would have been here longer.

Relaxing 5 mile hike, although with a 4 x 4 vehicle that has decent clearance, you can drive about…read more4ish miles and hike the rest. Even in November the water was perfect, like a nice hot bath *not scorching* and with plenty of steam to compliment the light chill in the air. We went on an "off peak time", a monday morning which meant little traffic and that was exactly what we were hoping for. Beeeeautiful scenery, relaxing pools, tall trees and a mountain breeze....que mas queres?? This was an exceptional day, my batteries are officially recharged. Is it possible that you might come across some old naked dudes smokin a doob and sippin a brew in the hot springs? I suppose it's possible. But we didn't come across any. I bet if you went on a weekend you'd run across a lot more hikers and have less of a private experience.

I'll never get tired of the view towards the Rio Grande River from Overlook Park in White Rock. On…read moreevery trip to Northern New Mexico (however far apart), you'll find me here (hot or not) admiring the scenery. Last week was but one experience that I hope to repeat.

We came back in May and it's just not as nice. No waterfall. It's hotter. The sunlight is so bright…read moreand air is drier so there's less color saturation/contrast in the area. Sept and October are the months to visit.

This waterfall blew my mind! I didn't know that such a large waterfall existed in NM! I'm so glad…read morewe hiked it, and I'll be back! The water was pretty frigid, but still fun!

The staff here is rude and act like they are doing you a favor by letting you pay them $20 to see a…read morefalls, the view of which is ruined by the dam, clearly built above it. I do not recommend.

Ten years later, Gayle and I revisited the Valles Caldera as we took the long way back to…read moreAlbuquerque from Santa Fe (via Los Alamos). It was a big winding from Los Alamos, but finally the stunning view of the Valle came into full display. Wonderful stuff, with my only regret not driving a bit into it to take in the Visitor Center. Next time.

What an absolutely stunning oasis in the middle of the Jemez Mountains! We saw quite a few…read morecreatures on our trip today! A Groundhog, prairie dogs, Chipmunks, Elk and a coyote all in the span of about an hour! Truly a stunning place to visit with amazing views and kind National Park workers!

Quiet. Wild. Magnificent. Bring sunscreen, hat, walking…read morepole and water. It will capture you. I didn't want to leave, but explore each new bend.

Perfect for scrambling and hiking through the rocks. It's beautiful, a little gem. just 10…read moreminutes from the car park and then we walked along the dry river bed and climbed up for photos ops. Just a few people around, a beautiful sunny day in December - perfect. To get there go through the Dar Al Islam wood archway, no permit needed to cross.

Absolutely had the best time horseback riding here at ghost ranch! We had the best wrangler--Emma!…read moreWe had a private 1.5 tour with her through the fields and by all the Georgia OKeefe spots! The horses were beautiful and super fun to take out there! Emma made our adventure so fun! If you can get her you will be so pleased! We also hiked chimney rock--a quick 1.5 hour trail up and back! So much to explore and have fun!

I have different feelings about the ranch than I do about the accommodations of staying at the…read moreranch. The first part of this review is going to be about the accomedations: First- I will admit that I am not camper. We did not camp- we stayed in a cottage (Pine 3) which was a queen sized bed. The room fit the bed. I'll give it that. The mattress was so smooshy that I thought I was going to slide between the mattress and the headboard. You get three pillows. Two standard and one queen. You also get about 13" of clearance between the corner of the bed frame and a table. My knees hit that black metal bed corner every time. You also get a lot of bugs because none of the screens seem to really fit the windows. The bathroom was spacious and gave you about 17 options as to where to hang your towels which is good as there are no closets. They are upfront about the rooms. There are no phones or TVs or coffee makers (we brought instant coffee that I made with hot tap water and I do not recommend doing that. Something really screwed up my intestines and I suspect it was drinking the tap water) (there is coffee in the dining hall but it doesn't open until 7am -or rather you can generally sneak in there around 7 but breakfast isn't until 7:30am). I have AT&T and my husband has T-Mobile. I had connectivity for the most part- not a strong signal but enough to get through. We ate at the dining hall during our stay. The first night did not set a great tone- the salmon looked like it had been baking for 3 weeks. Initially i thought that was maybe what my stomach was upset about but I am pretty sure it was the tap water. One day there was a salad bar with no greens. Just shredded cheese and cherry tomatoes. And another time there was no iced tea. We also were looking forward to using the pool but nope. Apparently they had no lifeguard so no one was allowed to use the pool which was a huge bummer because we wasted the space to pack for pool use. Overall I would stay somewhere else (there was a cute looking place nearby called the Abiquiu inn) and paying $10 to visit the ranch which is absolutely stunning views and trails. But for the cost of our stay it felt....not worth it.

Frijoles Creek flows right through the Bandalier National Monument. It is a gentle waterway here as…read moreit passes under foot bridges and along creeks dotted with river rock. But that was not always the case as the gigantic 2011 Las Conchas wildfire burned through the monument's watershed. According to a story in the Albuquerque Journal newspaper, " the fire left thousands of acres charred and denuded, and cleared the way for huge floods through Frijoles Canyon in 2011 and again in 2013 that threatened key features of the (Bandalier) monument and the visitors center." Yes, little Frijoles Creek (El Rito de los Frijoles, Spanish for "the little river of beans,") turned into a mighty raging river of water.The floods here washed out Frijoles Rim Trail and the bottom part of the Falls Trail down to the Rio Grande. The Bandelier website says the "Frijoles Canyon Trail between Alcove House and the Upper Crossing "is basically a streambed hike at this point - passable but challenging in places due to erosion, rockfalls, fallen trees, log jams, flood debris, dense vegetation and numerous stream crossings," said the Journal newspaper at the time. Frijoles Creek generally flows at 10 cubic feet per second or less. But in September 2013, it was rushing along at 9,000 cfs, park rangers say. That's a lot of water moving around. Frijoles Creek was so powerfully flooded that 300-year old trees came toppling down along it's banks. But this Creek is so important because it is one of the few places in the plateau region where water flows year-round This reliable source of water must have been very important to the Native Peoples who utilized the H20 for drinking and cooking. Animals and wildlife would have been attracted to the area to drink at the stream. A wide range of plant life would have flourished along the stream. The Creek I saw at Bandalier in May 2015 was a peaceful stream of cold river water. The water is so cold because it flows down from the melted snow up in the mountains above the plateau. The Creek has waterfalls. Both Upper Frijoles Falls and Lower Frijoles Falls feed the Creek stream. But these waterfalls are not really the main attraction, as not much water flows over them. However, the hike up to see the Falls and the beautiful rocks around them are fantastic. I have to give Frijoles Creek 5 YELP STARS for it's unusual name and the fact that this hardy watershed has recently survived both a raging wildfire and torrential flooding. It's consistent flow of water enabled the Ancestral Pueblo people to survive and flourish in this sometimes arid and harsh climate.

I really loved this trail! This trail is not for the faint of heart or the beginner. It's a…read morechallenge but a good challenge. You can go at your own pace and you'll get to see all the beautiful butterflies and other creatures. Huge area and very clean. Great for camping, picnics, and hiking.

It was so nice! I'd recommend going the first week of October, we went October 18th and it was…read morepast peak so some of the trees were already bare. But still, super nice, a bit chilly, but an amazing way to start a Sunday morning with the puppers The AllTrails map has you do a loop, but we did it as an out and back and hiked 2.5 miles in before turning around on the less steep side.

An easy stroll for a hike and tons of petroglyphs. The path is well kept and roped off to keep…read morefolk off the petroglyphs. Flat trail no climbing over rocks. Much better than the other two sights. Took about 40 minutes to walk the trail with some lollygagging and musings on interpretations. No other people on a weekday early morning. Parking at beginning of trail which is a car park by the houses.

Such a beautiful area for a chill hike. It is very mild and something you can do with the whole…read morefamily. These trails are dog, friendly, and a good spot in my opinion for a little puppy stroll. The views are fantastic, and there are a couple different areas with some great petroglyphs.

Without a doubt one of the best national parks or monuments I've ever been to! Highly, highly…read morerecommended if you are in the Santa Fe area. A couple notes: 1. Parking looks like it might get tough on busy weekends, mid-week we didn't have an issue early, and but when we left in the early afternoon, the main lot was pretty full. 2. The main Pueblo Loop trail was well maintained and quite accessible up to and just past the Big Kiva and Tyuonyi. The top-back part of the loop was a little more broken up, but still a pretty easy stroll. 3. The trail out to the Alcove House was absolutely beautiful! It's not paved, but it's a well maintained gravel. The ladders to the alcove itself are an interesting experience. If you don't love heights, there are some benches at the bottom of the ladder to sit on and relax. 4. Helpfully, there is a well-maintained pit toilet about halfway out, in case you need it. 5. The restaurant at the visitor center might not be the most efficient place, but the food was much better than you would expect!

I have been fascinated by Native American cliff-dwelling habitats since studying them in grade…read moreschool, but I never had, nor took the opportunity to explore them, until daytripping to Bandelier. The visitors' center and the grounds were everything. The paths were clear and an easy hike. Looking off, beyond the paths was the gem. You could viscerally feel as though you were on the otherside of the looking glass, into time forgotten. There was almost a sacred quality to the excursion, which could've been because it was a weekday and there weren't many other tourists. Or, it could've been because the Pueblo people who lived there from 1150 to 1550 were still there, peacefully watching over the place. Haunted is different than sacred. I guess the best way to describe it is: It was a place of a more natural, more wild west and awareness. It's a well-known place to New Mexicans as well as people studied in the culture of the area. As a layperson, I was both surprised and captivated. If you are mesmerized by history and want to step into a different culture, a different time, this is a place you must explore.