For our Labor Day weekend we packed up our camping gear and headed out to Hopewell Lake Campground in northern New Mexico with some of our family. Our original plan was to camp in Colorado near the Great Sand Dunes, but I was a little late in reserving a spot. My dad had raved about his experience with the campground last year, and it happened to be only a couple of hours from the dunes so we jumped on the availability.
The campground is nestled in the mountains and pretty remote, making the drive up there quite beautiful. The lake itself is pretty small, but the area has some pretty impressive views, lots of hiking near by, amazing night skies and is one of the quietest campsites I think I've been to. The only bummer about the campground is that they don't sell firewood. I had done all of my research online and then booked our reservation, which all said that firewood could be purchased near the grounds so we elected not to bring any. So. Not. True. If you find yourself heading that way (which I would highly recommend) be sure to bring your own firewood! The nearest spot is about 30 miles away. There is plenty of firewood in the forest that you can use, however, it rained prior to us getting there and all of the wood was useless. Hubby gave it a good effort, but the first night we ended up going fire-less. Whomp whomp! A bit of a bummer, but we made the most of it.
The next morning we headed out to Colorado to visit Zapata Falls and then to the Great Sand Dunes. Both were amazing! It's a two hour drive from Hopewell, but a nice drive (bonus, we found some firewood at a gas station we stopped at). We went to Zapata Falls first. While smaller vehicles could probably make the drive-at least according to my sister in law, I would recommend a higher clearance vehicle if possible and 4WD. The road to the falls is pretty rough, but it's so worth it! Once there, you have a short walk to the falls area (about a half mile) and then you walk through the water to get to the falls. I'd recommend bringing a change of shoes. A pair you don't mind getting wet, and then some walking shoes. The water was FREEZING! When I first got in it was so cold it was making my legs ache, but after a while they numbed up and it was almost smooth sailing from there (with the exception of a couple spills on my part).
Another perk about the area is that dogs are allowed, which was super nice to have the pups ride along with us. I always hate leaving them behind on our excursions and they live for the outdoors. Only downside was they were in a mood this weekend and made things pretty challenging for us to be in public, which I think also caused stress on the group (I'm sorry family-and hubby- for all of the chaos! Thank you so much for being such troopers and putting up with it!). After the falls, next stop was the Great Sand Dunes.
Once we arrived, we first stopped for a picnic lunch, then we headed over to the dunes. The Great Sand Dunes remind me a little of White Sands for those locals who've been there. Though they are not nearly as vast as the White Sands are and they are much taller. You really feel like you are climbing and wandering in the remote deserts of the Sahara or something. It's a little challenging of a hike. You're at higher elevation and the hills are pretty steep, but the down part is so much fun! The other cool part about the dunes is that it is surrounded by mountains, so you get some pretty great views from every direction. We lucked out and didn't have much wind, but I've heard you want to bring clothes that will protect your skin just in case. I wish we had had time to catch the sunset as I've heard it's beautiful, but we were getting hungry and really wanted a fire for our second night so we had to get going before it got too dark.
On the drive back we were treated with a beautiful sunset and once back at the campsite we devoured dinner and finally had some S'mores-because necessary!
The next morning was our last day there so we took things pretty easy, went for a walk that morning with the pups and the hubby, packed up and went to check out Hopewell Lake. A storm was coming in so unfortunately we couldn't stay long, but it was fun while it lasted!
Overall-we had a wonderful weekend and were so glad to still have Monday to re-coup! I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend as well. I'll see you back here on Friday for the last installment of our time in France last year. Have a good day friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment