It’s not an overstatement to say that a lot can happen in just 1 week. Spontaneously, we decided NOT to go to Utah but New Mexico instead. The simple reason was weather. Utah was predicted to be cold with snow in areas that we weren’t expecting. And…we had never been to New Mexico and imagined it to be filled with amazing sunsets and starry night skies. It’s important to note at this point, that it took us no less than 3-4 months prior to our trip to prepare for this type of camping, as well as research and document each of the GPS coordinates for every remote and special camping spot. And now, we were heading into the unknown. There’s something magical about throwing your plans to the wind and trusting that all will be okay in the end. And it was.

The first night we stayed at Wild Rivers State Recreation area alongside the Rio Grande and it was beautiful. We hiked before dinner, set up camp, and enjoyed a cozy evening. It was cold, and we were the only visitors in the park, which in itself is pretty amazing to be alone together in a 379 mile national monument park.

Second stop was Chaco Canyon National Park. I cannot say enough about this World Heritage Site. It is a full hour’s drive on a dirt road to get to the park, but so worth it. (The road was so deteriorated that it broke loose our toolbox screwed into the top of camper.) With almost 35,000 acres of land, including 1000 year-old Pueblo, Hopi, and Navaho ruins, we had a full week of balancing work and backcountry hiking. We would’ve missed this had we stayed with our plan.

After a week of dispersed camping, we desperately needed 1-2 days for restock, laundry, dinners out, a good margarita and a warm place to stay (that is inside). Santa Fe was the obvious choice for all those reasons, and Las Palomas just a few blocks from the Plaza was a perfect spot to land. It gave us time to come up with a new plan for the upcoming week as we had secured reservations about 3 hours south of Santa Fe at Elephant Butte, but more than a few people warned us about the area and safety. So…back to no plan. And, Santa Fe was cold and getting colder.

So…stay tuned to find out where we go next!