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Reviews Available:   Cimarron Canyon State Park   Jack's Creek    Pecos Wilderness   Valle Vidal

Cimarron Canyon State Park
Reviewed by Peggy natrluvr1@hotmail.com

They had 4 big pens that would hold 2-4 horses. Water had to be hauled in from across the highway from the campground. The campground was full and even though the ranger said there should be places to camp, it ended up almost not happening for me, since I couldn't get reservations. The girls that camped with me got reservations for a camp site in 31-34 which were right across the highway from the corrals. The camp sites are small 20-30 ft. and have 2 places to park trailer and vehicle. I ended up parking my trailer at the corrals, but heard later that I wasn't suppose to but the camp host let me anyway. With my 26 ft. Motor Home, I would have had trouble getting it parked in a spot next to the MH. In fact had to park the MH at an angle to get it in the spot. They've used every bit of the area with no extra room. They were even going to charge the others with $10/night which is the camp charge for an extra pickup. No electricity. Water at about 3 places in the camp. I watered out my MH and had to refill my tank but it saved carrying it the 1/2 blk to the pens. The trails weren't marked but are logging roads for the most part. The camp ground was Maverick Camp Ground. There was another kind of overflow parking area about another block away which had some camping areas around the perimeter and double slant parking in the middle. It looked like many were using the parking area to camp in as well. The average high there was in the low 80's and nice and cool at night. It rains almost everyday in the afternoon. I don't think any of us would return there because of the inconvenience of water for the horses. Since I got tossed the first day twice, I didn't ride the next 2 days. So really can't speak for the trails but I do think the others enjoyed them.

Jack's Creek Equestrian Campground, NE of Santa Fe

Reviewed by Rhonda P., Edmond, OK

A group of us Okie's beat the heat this summer and headed to Jack's Creek Equestrian Campground in the Pecos Wilderness, just NE of Santa Fe.  Jack's Creek is located 27 miles north of Pecos, New Mexico.  The road up to Jack's Creek is entirely paved, but a it's a bit narrow, winding, and steep, especially the last 7 miles. (Typical mountain road) The elevation at the campground is 8,000 feet. The campground is all primitive camping. There are 3 water faucets at the camp to get water from, but they don't want you connecting your hoses to them.  No electricity, but pretty fancy outhouses.  There are about 8 steel corrals in place to put your horses.  Sets of 2 corrals together, spaced around the campground.  Sites were leveled, had picnic tables and campfire rings.  No shade for any of the campsites, but a beautiful view of the valley, and mountains.  Mid-July to Mid-August is monsoon season, and we did have a nice rain about every afternoon. It's best to be out of the high country by 3:00pm, to avoid the lightening, during these months. Bring your rain gear!  

The trail head that leaves camp to the east is steep, narrow, and rocky, but once past that point it's pretty smooth sailing. Trails meander in and out of wooded areas and through beautiful meadows.  We found all trail heads to have markers, and the map pretty easy to follow, after the trial and error method of the first few days. It's easiest to stay on the main trails and WAIT for the trail head markers before you turn off.   Don't expect any help on trail directions from the host ranger. (It is wilderness and they will not go looking for you unless your parking permit is up.)  The trail head that heads west out of camp is far easier to leave camp on, and winds it's way down to the Pecos River, however once crossing the river the trail becomes almost treacherous.  It's a good thing Anita can tuck and roll, or we would have had a real tragedy on our hands.  You'll have to ask her about it.  We didn't go that way again!

The Pecos Falls were beautiful beyond belief and a great place to relax and have your lunch right on the falls.  Huge rock ledges afford a wonderful, relaxing picnic spot.  The climb up there is a hard ride, as you are ascending the whole way, but coming back down you can almost cut your time in half (about 21 miles round trip.)

At this altitude there are no night noises and supposedly no snakes, I didn't see any, but I'm not sure I trust that wholly.  There are signs in the bathroom asking you not to feed the bears, but the park rangers laughed and assured us there were none.  We didn't see any...or much of any wildlife either.  A few does, ravens, squirrels, chipmunks, and a variety of birds, were the only wildlife we saw.  There was a report of big horned sheep on Pecos Baldy, but they weren't there when we were either.  The night sky was incredible!!!

I would give Jack's Creek about a 4 star rating. We knew it was primitive when we went so we can't hold that against them.  However, they could definitely use a better trail out of camp, and better cleaning up, and repair of the horse corrals (the bathroom and campsites were very clean.)  My vote would also be to install electric hookups. (generators are too noisy!)  I would also vote that they make the campsites reservable.  Right now, it's first come, first serve.  You really don't want to drive 11 hours just to find out there's not enough room and you have to go somewhere else.  Weekends are very crowded, but we arrived on Sunday afternoon and there was only one camp spot taken, everyone else had gone.  Would I go back?  In a heartbeat!  Would some of my traveling companions?  Not on your life!  (Editor's note: Some of Rhonda's companions weren't crazy about riding up that steep, narrow rocky trail to get to the rest of the trails. One fell off her horse when the horse stumbled on a rock and she fell 30 feet. If you are not good with heights and drop offs, this might not be the place you want to trail ride.)

Pecos Wilderness / Jack’s Creek Campground
Reviewed by Linda R.
Packing Out Day Rides Camp View Campsite

Last July, I also rode the Pecos Wilderness trails, east of Santa Fe.  I agree with Ronda's assessments on the steep, difficult trails leaving camp, (and the steep drive into camp!  We had it floored going 5 mph, pulling a small gooseneck!)

For a couple of hours, the trail out of camp is VERY rough and steep.  If you are a day rider, that means you tackle this problem day after day.  Once you get passed the first ascent, it is much more gradual, although always ascending.  We stopped to hobble and rest the horses periodically.  My horse is a trooper, but he was mad at me for a month after taking him to Jack's Creek camp!  When we left camp in the morning, it was 80 degrees.  By 1 pm, we were having lunch in the snow.  Pack a jacket and a slicker!  We spent one afternoon waiting out a severe thunderstorm on the mountainside.  Stay off the mesas during storms!   

If you would love to pack out, Pecos Wilderness is the place!  Most of the campground is just a parking lot for rigs packing out for several days. The wilderness is very large and beautiful--you can’t see all the really beautiful places day riding. If you pack out, your horses won’t get as exhausted as when they have to make the steep ascent out of camp day after day. We may go back to pack out some day, but I would never go back to Jack’s Creek as a day rider. 

There is a second camp, Irongate, which is supposedly more difficult to get to (poorly maintained road) and has no water. But it’s a MUCH more beautiful camp, with campsites nestled in the trees as they should be.  It also has some metal corrals. The access to trails is much easier from Irongate.  Much better camp for day riders!

We ended our stay in New Mexico with a trip into Santa Fe, leaving the horses at a nice boarding stable while seeing the sites of the city for a few days. En route back to Oklahoma, we dropped south out of Amarillo and spent the night at Palo Duro Canyon. Nice side trip. We had time for an evening and morning ride, then headed on home. Pecos Wilderness was very beautiful.  However, my favorite New Mexico (day) riding still remains to be Valle Vidal.

Valle Vidal, Carson National Forest, New Mexico
Riding Lower Camp Amenities
Reviewed by Linda and Jan

Jan S. and Linda R. rode Valle Vidal area of New Mexico in August, 2004. The Valle Vidal Unit is in the Carson National Forest just northwest of Cimarron, New Mexico off of highway 64. The Philmont Boy Scout Ranch land adjoins the Carson N.F..

The Drive:  We cut up our drive into two stages, meeting the first night at Ft Supply Lake in northwestern Oklahoma off highway 412.  There are horse corrals there for an easy, quick stop, easy to settle into after dark and get on the road first thing.  The next day was a long drive to Valle Vidal…perhaps 9 hours from Ft Supply to camp. 

The road into camp is 30 miles of gravel road (slick if it rains). You can only drive 10-20 MPH pulling a big rig, 1^st and 2^nd gear all the way. It took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to make it the 30 miles to the McCrystal camp because it had rained.  Do not attempt this road unless you have good tires and spares, and the parts on your trailer are in good condition.  Fill up with gas and buy plenty of ice in Cimarron—you will not want to be running back into town for supplies. Linda has a theory that you should deflate the air in your tires when going into the mountains, since the air expands so much at an altitude.  That might make the gravel road smoother and perhaps reduce tire damage.  It certainly was true with her air mattress.  If she hadn’t deflated it some before the ascent, it looked like it probably would’ve exploded at an altitude.   

The Camp:  There are two campsites in Carson N.F.  (McCrystal and Cimarron).  McCrystal is the first camp you’ll come to and Cimarron is the upper camp, only about 10 miles up the road, but yet a steep 30 minute drive with switchbacks.  This trip, Cimarron was full and we stayed at McCrystal.  Linda stayed at Cimarron a few years earlier and found it very beautiful, with private campsites.

If you are headed to Cimarron Camp, stop in at the McCrystal camp and ask other campers if the upper camp is full or not.  There were several rigs that went on up to Cimarron, and it was full so they had to come back down to McCrystal and camp there.  Asking ahead might save you a long haul on bad road.  When Linda was at Cimarron Camp 4 years ago, it was mid-September and the camp was deserted, but the weather was still great.  It’s a nicer camp (still primitive, but with a central water faucet), but smaller.  It’s also at a higher altitude, so is a little harder on people and animals that aren’t acclimated.  Great riding both places, although Linda thinks it’s better at Cimarron.   Both camps have places near camp to picket or hobble horses to graze. 

The Valley:  Valle Vidal is totally awesome, with wide grassy valleys and clear creeks, pine forested hills and some aspen groves and then rugged, rocky, mountainous terrain as well. You can work your horse as much or as little as you want. The elevation is around 8900 feet at McCrystal Camp.  During this time of the year it rained every day around 4 PM, so you needed to be near shelter during the thunderstorms due to lightning. The wildflowers were in bloom all over and were really beautiful. We saw a lot of different brightly colored birds that we never see in Kansas and Oklahoma. There are a lot of elk and deer (as well as black bears and Ted Turner’s buffalo—but we didn’t see any.)  The temperature was around 80 during the day and dropped to 40-45 at night.

If your horse has tough feet they can be ridden without shoes, but shoes would be a good idea.  The rocks seemed to be more on the sides of the hills or in the rough mountainous areas. The soil in the valleys was kind of sandy without rocks. Beware of bogs in the valleys. You can tell them by the type of grass growing. My horse Ginger learned first hand to watch the change in grass color and after she got in a bog up to her belly, she really took care with the change in grasses and soil. The creeks were only a couple of feet wide, but could be as deep as your horses shoulder in some places, so care had to be taken when crossing the creeks.  Look for a wider, rocky crossing.

From the Cimarron Camp, just two miles further up the road is “Clayton Corrals”, a place to park and ride out of into the bigger  valley of Valle Vidal, but no camping.  Many people haul up there for a day ride, then return to camp.  If you care to pack out, you can camp anywhere in the forest.

Only downside:  I called ahead and the rangers said not to bring hay, to buy local New Mexico hay and that there was water in camp for humans and horses and that there were outhouses. Also they said there were corrals for the horses. The camping fee was $5 per night. As instructed, we didn’t haul hay (we’d planned to buy it in Clayton, New Mexico on the way; and we didn’t fill the tanks with water so we wouldn’t have the extra weight.)  BAD MOVE.  All three places we stopped to buy “local” hay were out, and ironically waiting on a semi load of hay to be shipped from Oklahoma and Kansas.  The feed store in Cimarron told us to try down the road at a boarding stable.  Guess what, no one was home.  We considered ourselves desperate by now, and raided the barn for a few bails of what appeared to be Kansas grown brome hay, and left a note and some money.  Moral to the story:  take your own hay.  Everyone else in camp had brought their own, and no one ever checked.  (Neither did they check on coggins or health papers.  We never saw a ranger or a camp host.) 

We got to McCrystal camp and the water spigots hadn’t worked in months so no human water available.  There was a horse tank, but we didn’t want our horses drinking out of the community tank.  We led the horses to the creek to drink, and hauled water to camp out of the creek about 1/8 mile down a hill.  We wondered if the ranger I spoke to had ever been to camp, as there were also no corrals for horses as they’d said, but there were picket poles.  We’d brought picket lines just in case. We heard from other people camping there that there was running water up at the Cimarron camp and some people drove the extra distance up there and filled their tanks. 

BETTER HURRY!  El Paso Production has offered $2 million to the Carson National Forest to lease the Valle Vidal area for extracting the natural gas under that valley.  Coalbed methane (CBM which is natural gas) development involves pumping off large amounts of water trapped in coal seams with methane gas and includes building well pads, roads, pipeline corridors, and associated facilities like compressor stations and dehydration units. CBM development is having devastating effects in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin and across the West, where companies are scraping bare large swaths of land and contaminating air, soil and water resources with toxic, hazardous, and carcinogenic materials. If allowed, this development will have serious air, water, soil, noise, habitat, and community impacts that will change the Valle Vidal forever. There is a group of people trying to save Valle Vidal and we thought we would donate to their organization, as well as write letters to congressmen.  However, now that Bush has been re-elected—this area is seriously threatened.

For Midwest states like Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas, this beautiful wilderness is the closest, most awesome riding you will find.  Because it offers the option of gentle valley terrain or mountainous rough riding, it is appealing to all riders.  It would be criminal for this national forest to be corrupted with 80 acre well sites and numerous roads.  Visit Valle Vidal soon, while it is still unspoiled.  It is well worth the drive!

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