Things To Do

The 1.83 million acre Rio Grande National Forest is located in south-central Colorado and remains one of the true undiscovered jewels of Colorado. The Rio Grande begins its 1800 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico high up in the San Juan Mountains in the westernmost part of the Forest. The Continental Divide runs for 236 miles along most of the western border of the Forest and the jagged tops of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the eastern border.  In between these two mountain ranges sits the San Luis Valley which is a large agricultural alpine valley.

Website: Rio Grande National Forest
FaceBook address for Rio Grande National Forest

Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, Mesa Verde National Park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. The stunning landscape of Southwest Colorado, near Four Corners, is the backdrop as you explore Mesa Verde National Park.

Visit Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Mesa Verde, CO
(970) 529-4465

The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. Experience this diversity through hiking, sand sledding, splashing in Medano Creek, wildlife watching, and more!

Visit Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO
Mosca, CO
(719) 378-6399

San Luis State Park

In the shadow of the Great Sand Dunes National Park is peaceful San Luis State Park and Wildlife Area. Waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds and raptors fill the sky over this unique desert ecosystem, making San Luis an outstanding wildlife area most of the year. The park is located just 15 minutes west of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and features a modern campground. All 51 sites have electrical hookups, sheltered tables, fire grills, nearby drinking water hydrants, and an available dump station. Campsites have a panoramic view of San Luis Lake, the surrounding Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range and the Great Sand Dunes.

Visit San Luis State Wildlife Area, CO
16399 Ln 6, Mosca, CO 81146
(719) 378-2020

Established in 1858 in southern Colorado, Fort Garland, with its garrison of over 100 men, served to protect the earliest settlers in the San Luis Valley. Today you are invited to walk the parade ground of the fort and tour the adobe buildings, which feature a re-creation of the commandant’s quarters during Kit Carson’s time.

Visit Fort Garland Museum, CO
29477 Highway 159
PO Box 368
Fort Garland, CO 81133
(719) 379-3512

Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1962 as a haven for migratory birds and other wildlife. 14,345 foot Mt. Blanca of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains provides a stunning backdrop for this 11,169 acre refuge.

Visit Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, CO
Visitors Center
9383 El Rancho Lane,
Alamosa, CO 81101
Phone: (719) 589-4021
Fax: (719)-587-0595

Through-hiking any trail grabs the imagination of any hiker at some point in his or her life. The Continental Divide — that place on the map that splits East Coast from West Coast is one of those through-hiking beauties. One of the access points to the Continental Divide is via our very own Cumbres Pass. Park your car in Chama, NM, grab the train to Cumbres and hop off to begin your adventure. Or, grab the train as you’re through-hiking to go to town, pick up supplies, a shower and a hot meal before continuing on.

Visit Colorado Continental Divide Trail

Located in New Mexico’s northern mountains, El Vado Lake State Park offers fishing, boating, camping, hiking, winter cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. A 5.5-mile scenic trail along the Rio Chama connects El Vado with nearby Heron Lake. Quiet coves around the lake are great places to catch trout and kokanee salmon. The lake and surrounding area are a major wintering ground for bald eagles and other birds.

Visit El Vado Lake State Park
State Road 112
Tierra Amarilla, NM 87575
Phone: (575) 588-7247

A picturesque lake set among the tall pines of northern New Mexico, Heron Lake State Park has been designated a “quiet lake” where boats operate at no-wake speeds only, making it an excellent location for all types of paddle craft. Heron also has amazing sailing, cross-country skiing, and hiking. Heron is a fisherman’s pardise with record-size trout and kokanee salmon. Ice fishing is very popular in winter. Several campgrounds line the shore of this scenic lake with primitive and developed campsites are available for every taste.

Visit Heron Lake State Park
640 State Road 95
Los Ojos, NM 87551
Phone: (575) 588-7470

Hopewell Lake Campground sits next to its scenic namesake lake between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla in northern New Mexico. Visitors enjoy horseback riding, hiking, fishing and canoeing.

Hopewell Lake is a small, man-made lake, set high in the Carson National Forest at an elevation of 9,500 feet. A forest of conifer and aspen trees covers the area and offers partial shade in the campground.

The 14-acre lake is perfect for canoeing and is regularly stocked with rainbow and brook trout. Several trails begin in the campground and are popular with horseback riders and hikers.

Come visit us and see all that we have to offer…

• Tour our 11th century ruins and a Chacoan great house
• Experience a 19th century homestead
• Picnic under our ramada
• Investigate replicas of a sweatlodge, hogan, tipi, or pithouse
• View ancient artifacts, as well as interesting new exhibits

Location: Village of Los Ojos, about 15 miles south of Chama.
History: Formerly called Parkview Hatchery, it was built in 1932.
Production: Catchable-sized rainbow trout, but may be converted to a fingerling rearing facility. Capable of raising three million trout fingerlings per year to be stocked in waters statewide.

Email losojos.hatchery@state.nm.us
Phone: (575) 588-7307

The Land of Enchantment offers many wonderful trail experiences. From the rugged Rocky Mountains to the desert grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert, the CDT extends for 770 miles through New Mexico, a mosaic of azure skies, adobe architecture, ancient civilizations, “Wild West” desperados and red rock cliffs.

The CDT can be found through some of New Mexico’s most spectacular natural and historic landscapes. Included are The San Pedro Parks and Chama River Wildernesses with dramatic mountains, mesa tops and canyon lands made famous by Georgia O’Keefe.

The center of an ancient world…Today the massive buildings of the ancestral Pueblo peoples still testify to the organizational and engineering abilities not seen anywhere else in the American Southwest. For a deeper contact with the canyon that was central to thousands of people between 850 and 1250 A.D., come and explore Chaco through guided tours, hiking & biking trails, evening campfire talks, and night sky programs.

Chaco Canyon is located in northwestern New Mexico. The park can only be accessed by driving on dirt roads.

Visit Chaco Canyon National Historical Park
Directions to Chaco Canyon

Ghost Ranch is a unique combination of natural beauty, paleontology, geology, archaeology, history, and art. It is not just the values of each of these separate aspects, but rather the synergy of all of them that makes Ghost Ranch a unique place to experience.

Ghost Ranch is located 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe (forty miles beyond Española) on U.S. 84 between mile markers 224 and 225.

Visit Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center
Directions to Ghost Ranch
Phone: 505-685-1000
Toll Free: (877) 804-4678