Cochiti Lake, New Mexico

[Aaron]

Hey all,

We're heading to New Mexico this year again for Memorial day. We're not taking the Jeep as it is mostly a see new things, take pictures, etc type of trip. That being said, we love company so if anyone wants to go, get a camping spot and we can hang out down there.

My question is, has anyone ever run the St Peters Dome trail down there? It will be a shorter way for us to get from Cochiti Lake where we are camping to Bandelier Monument but since we'll be in the big Diesel, I want to see if there will be any difficulties.

Anybody ever done it? Anybody ever hung out in this area? Anything we should be going to see?

[Aaron]

It's here for those who are wondering...
Bandelier Wilderness

[Brad]

We would love to however I have to get some stuff fixed on the Rover first. I will have to wait and see how the next month goes.

[Brody]

Wow...Haven't heard that name in ages. We went down to New Mexico as a side trip for some rock climbing and climbed in the Sandias and a few other spots, one of which was Cochiti Mesa, which is located about 30 minutes from St Peter's Dome road. We also hit Las Conchas and Jemez springs which is left of your mark on the map...

Only thing I remember about it was that the climbing was fun, but better in the Sandias. This was way back in the late 80s or early 90s. Pretty state if you avoid Taos, though if you happen to be on a 'cosmic groovy trip' or take a wrong turn on the astral plane, Taos is borderline OK...

Oh...we were driving either a Honda Accord or a Volvo 145E, so a pick up should do just fine....Can't help with much sightseeing suggestions either, as we were more dialed into climbing than scenery.. Sandias fit both those bills, even though the approaches sucked...

[Jackie]

We have been through NM a couple of times while traveling from the east coast out to the west. The ONE thing that I remember is visiting the Capulin Volcano National Monument. We hiked around it on two different trips and we enjoyed it both times. Nothing exciting. Nothing adventerous or dangerous -Just a nice place to stretch your legs and let the kids see something different. On our first visit, we noticed a bush filled with lady bugs... so of course, Britton had to stick his arm into the bush. His arm came out with litterally thousands-upon-thousands of lady bugs attached to him. As much as we tried to brush them all off, we had those cute bugs EVERYWHERE for the remainder of our trip. I'm serious... the amount of lady bugs doubled the width of his arm (if not more). And then... they roamed around HAH!

Not sure if it's on your route - but check it out: http://www.nps.gov/cavo/planyourvisit/directions.htm

[southpaws3]

Wow!! have fun that is a beautiful lake, when stationed in nm we also camped there super cool

[BlackRubi]

We stopped by Capulin Volcano on the trip moving up here from San Antonio. We try to stop by there when we take the long, scenic way to or from San Antone. No joke about the ladybugs. Swarms upon swarms upon swarms upon a stick, or an arm, or my dogs...it's crazy! Pretty scenery and cool to read about while you are there.