Top 10 New Mexico Experiences
#9: The Four Corners, New Mexico Road Trip
Travels with Murjo – The Four Corners Region – New Mexico
The Four Corners region is one of our favorite destinations. There’s an amazing variety of landscapes to enjoy – from mesa tops that grant you unlimited views to alpine forests with fast running creeks and rivers. What we love most is the opportunity to peel back layers and learn more about the area’s history with each trip, and to engage in outdoor adventures such as mountain biking, hiking, rafting, paddle boarding, and off-roading.
Contact Santa Fe Mountain Adventures to arrange a customized tour of the Four Corners Region!
Phone 505-988-4000
Road Trip Map Overview
Starting from Santa Fe or Albuquerque, take Highway 550 north through Bernalillo and Cuba (the town, not the country) towards Bloomfield. For those who want to experience a thrilling mountain bike ride, stop at the White Ridge Trail. The area is managed by BLM Rio Puerco, and you can find ample dispersed campsites. We use an App called Campendium to find suitable campgrounds or dispersed campsites, but you can also use The Dyrt and iOverlander.
White Ridge Trail
From the Cabezon/White Mesa area, continue north on 550. If you are explorers who want to get off the beaten path – which is definitely us! – you can opt to drive into Cañon Largo. The best place to access Cañon Largo when driving from Bernalillo is at Counselor’s Trading Post, called Red Mesa. Take CR 403 to the east of the Trading Post and then CR 379. We strongly recommend having a 4-wheel drive vehicle on the dirt roads and being vigilant about the weather.
Depending on weather conditions – please make sure the roads are dry as they can become impassable when wet – stop and visit the Crow Canyon Petroglyphs. You will have to cross Largo Wash to access Crow Canyon – we absolutely do not recommend driving through the wash if the water is high or flowing fast. Visit when conditions are appropriate, and you will be astounded by Crow Canyon’s extensive collection of Navajo petroglyphs.
Crow Canyon Petroglyphs
The Cañon Largo detour does take you away from other stops we highly recommend in the area, but you can exit from CR 4450 and backtrack through Blanco and Bloomfield to Nageezi to explore Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Step back into time and marvel at the architectural prowess of the Native American people. The Great Houses at Chaco are impressive and may have been a location that inhabitants in the area gathered at for special occasions. Our favorite stop at Chaco is Pueblo Bonito which we love incorporating with a hike up the mesa to Pueblo Alto.
You can camp at Chaco Canyon which is known for its dark skies, or head back north at stay at Angel Peak, another one of our preferred dry camping sites, with expansive views of the Badlands.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo Alto
Angel Peak Scenic area & Campground
While you’re in the area, make time to stop at the Bisti Badlands or the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness area. The experience is like stepping into another world, another planet! The rock formations are spectacular with hoodoos and arches. Our favorite hike at the Bisti Badlands is to the Cracked Eggs – these rock formations actually look like cracked eggs!
Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness
Continue north again on State Highway 550 towards Bloomfield and then Aztec. Visit Aztec Ruins where you will see a huge kiva that has been restored. Go mountain biking at the Alien Runs near Aztec, NM, or take a rafting trip along the San Juan or the Animas Rivers.
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Alien Run Mountain Bike Trail
Over the years, we have made numerous trips to the Four Corners Region of New Mexico. On each trip, we are surprised to find breathtaking sites. We love taking our travel trailer, an Airstream Basecamp 20X, named Murjo after our beloved Border Collie who used to travel pretty much everywhere with us. Murjo, the Basecamp, now continues to explore with us, along with our new Border Collie, Metchka.
Contact Santa Fe Mountain Adventures to arrange a customized tour of the Four Corners Region!
Phone 505-988-4000