28 Aug Camping in Taos Ski Valley

Sunday August 14

We wanted to get away for a quick night and decided one Sunday to scope out some of the free campsites just minutes away in ski valley canyon. Starting at the bottom, we pulled into every turnout we could tell was empty, and scouted at least 5-6 different sites before settling on the perfect spot!

We threw our tent up quickly to save the place and then headed further up the valley to do a short hike with our friend Jaci. We chose the Manzanitas trail, which was the final of the 4 trails in the valley we had yet to explore. The trail was wide and closer to a 4WD trail for the first mile, but soon rejoined the small creek and wound through beautiful aspen groves.

Antsy to set up camp and relax by the river, we only hiked about 2 miles up the trail before heading back down. The campsite was harder to find when we returned, and we grew more and more excited about how secluded it felt. We enjoyed the rest of the day lounging by the fire, taking cold plunges in the river, and munching on wine, cheese, smoked salmon, and a pesto pizza!

 

We explored the immediate vicinity, finding tons of mushrooms, and crossing a natural log bridge to explore the other side! The following day, we left our tent set up and headed into downtown Taos for a work session at Elevation coffee shop, complete with burritos of course! We decided we wanted another night at the campsite and enjoyed a long, leisurely evening off the farm property.

Sunday Aug 21

The following weekend, loaded with a fresh 25 lb box of the famous New Mexico Hatch Chiles, we invited all our fellow work-traders & local friends for a big dinner up at the campsite. We had gone back several times over the week to check on our tent, always finding it in the exact state we left it. Having the tent up at the campsite gave us a great excuse to take a break in the mountain forests, always with a quick cold plunge in the river! Perfect for washing the mud and sweat off after a day in the gardens.

For the dinner, we made a giant slow cooker of black beans with spices, and pot of rice to go with roasted chiles over the fire. Our fellow work trader Kali made a vegan ricotta cheese out of blended tofu, olive oil, lemon juice and some spices to add to the chiles for a Chile relleno style dish! For dessert I took about 6 cups of frozen apples, and cooked them up in a pot with some honey, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and allspice before we left for the campsite. I also pre-mixed a bag of flour and baking powder & brought along a couple eggs to make an apple dump cake over the fire!

We had 8 people, 3 tents and SO MANY chiles — making for an absolute perfect party in the woods. Not everyone spent the night but we were overjoyed to finally share our go-to relaxation & social recreation style of throwing an amazing meal or three in the middle of the woods, mountains, beach, desert… Just anywhere with no cell service and a nice view! We will definitely be back for this campsite!