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AUSTIN: Anywhere, for a nice campout

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Boulder Ed

Boulder Ed

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May 22, 2013
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Thorndale, tx
First Name
Ed
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Baker
Anyone got any ideas for a 4-7 day run to some nice countryside camping? Its getting warmer and I'd really like to get out somewhere for a ride before it explodes into high heat index riding misery and we are grounded till fall. AZ- CLifton to Alpine to Virginia City, Arkansas, NM, perhaps? My problem is fitting it in between family, consulting schedules and life, including farm animals and rattlesnakes. Other that that, heck I can pack it up anytime :-)
 
oldmxer said:
We just back from Cloudcroft last week, the nights were low 40's in the mornings
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I like Cloudcroft idea they have cabins that you can rent at reasonable rates. Several nice places to eat but only open certain days, so if there is one you want to try make sure you are there that day(S). I am trying to get there this year but not looking too promising yet.

The Alpine area was nice also. Was just passing thru it was a beautiful super curvy road.

Northern New Mexico is nice also. Chama is a nice hub where you can sneak over to Colorado for a day or head south and take the scenic Enchanted Circle ride. If you decide on the Chama route I can recommend a motel and places to dine.
 
Boulder Ed said:
Anyone got any ideas for a 4-7 day run to some nice countryside camping? Its getting warmer and I'd really like to get out somewhere for a ride before it explodes into high heat index riding misery and we are grounded till fall. AZ- CLifton to Alpine to Virginia City, Arkansas, NM, perhaps? My problem is fitting it in between family, consulting schedules and life, including farm animals and rattlesnakes. Other that that, heck I can pack it up anytime :-)
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Is this ride you're planning pavement only or pavement and dirt? I've been thinking about a mid-July trip to NM up into CO.
 
Tuco said:
Is this ride you're planning pavement only or pavement and dirt? I've been thinking about a mid-July trip to NM up into CO.
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Darn I might be that way also but with wife,daughter and grand kid so driving.:tears:
 
Well the devils highway in AZ won. I just returned from a 5 day run out and went both down from Alpine to Morenci and then back up to Alpine and over to Silver city. Spent 2 camping nights in the higher country pines along 191 and found two nice US forest service campgrounds for free. What a great ride. Only one day of heat, starting on the way into El Paso from Ft. Stockton. It hit 102 in Ft. Stockton, but I was able to find a great higher elevation campground out of Las Cruces, Aguirre Springs, to spend the night and it was 84 degrees at 5:30 when I got there. Sure wish some other TWTers could have made this run. Always more fun and safer with comapny on a longer ride. I left at 3:23 a.m. from the same Las Cruces campground and did the 660 miles home, and it never broke 90 degrees due to the early start and great cloud cover. Could not have asked for a better late June riding day! The campground pic is KP Cienega, 2 miles off pavement high up on 191. The Lord blessed me big time.
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It was 45, then 47 degrees in the mornings!!! A little nip in the air. I had made some assumptions about the weather that were wrong, and made a few packing mistakes. My wife politely chastized me with "that's why we use our moto camping checklist". She's always ben better prepared than me. I was trying to pack really light on this ride so kind of forgot some useful things.. I did not bring any long sleeve shirts for added warmth, rain gear, or my electric vest, which are always good things to have just in case, and only had my heavily vented air coat on over a tee shirt or two the entire trip. A campground host at Hannigan Meadows said " you just missed all the nasty weather, it's been miserable up here with rain sleet and light snow almost daily until now". Of course only 50 miles away heading towards Silver City they are doing cloud seeding in dry old NM to get some kind of rain going.

This was a great refresher trip to get back on my game :-)
 
My wife found the site above Las cruces online, just gooling "camping in Las Cruces" and reading reviews. Regarding the two sites I stayed at on 191, I just drove past them , and saw signs indicating a campground and drove in to look at em. I knew from past visits that there wer some remote sites out there, and I was not particular. They were both quite sufficient for my needs. All I need is a quiet pretty spot without a bunch of gangbangers. Turns out nobody goes up here to camp except us diehards :-) You need tpo be prepared by carrying food and water, proper tent and sleeping gear along with you, in case you decide to stay somewhere without water, as I did at La Cienega. It was a beautiful spot where I was even able to get a bath in a rapidly diminishing mountain stream.
 
Cloud seeding...I see talk about it and legislation proposal for funding but have not seen where it was actually done in new mexico this year yet. Got a link? I thought this was a thing of the past.
Lots of money for 10% increase in rainfall seems like
 
I don't think its very effective, unless conditions are perfect. I heard about it in a little store in Glenwood, and the locals claimed the hazy sky was from cloud seeding chemicals. I though it was residual haze from a fire as it smelled of smoke on the way up and I had pictures to verify that much. Don't know anything about web links to it all... I drove through and over to AZ where it was clearer, but still, some of my photos sure looked like smole coming into valleys, and as a past firefighter in CO, I could smell it and would have run for the heavy artillery equipment if I'd smelled that in the forest near my home.
 
JT and i would love to do a camping run like this. in fact, we are hoping to do one in late august.

last april, we spent a week in the gila NF. loved it. it was a little too nippy for us in the am at our first campsite-had to move to a lower elevation!

for August, we want to trailer the little bikes again and HQ around Espanola, explore the area.
 
SpiritAtBay said:
JT and i would love to do a camping run like this. in fact, we are hoping to do one in late august.

last april, we spent a week in the gila NF. loved it. it was a little too nippy for us in the am at our first campsite-had to move to a lower elevation!

for August, we want to trailer the little bikes again and HQ around Espanola, explore the area.
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Sanders smokey bear cloudcroft is coming up july 28 thru aug 3rd
 
SpiritAtBay said:
yup. that sure would be fun. you going?
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I will be there Monday thru Saturday morning.

I think I got Kirk wrangled into it too. And maybe that guy Billy that went to Lampasas with us last year.

Those spruce cabins start at $60 , of course limited
 
Hopefully summer will be cool enough to enjoy some riding and camping. I don't know TX well enough yet to believe one could camp comfortably anywhere in July or August, but comfort is subjective. My mountaineering tent is way too hot for anything about 70 degrees and I just proved it again last week in Las Cruces. My next planned ride is late Sept to UT parks meeting a long time riding partner from Vancouver BC there, and connecting with friends from my years in CO. UT in the fall is always great riding. Sept/Oct is good with chances of light snow occasionally mixed in to keep it interesting.
 
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