In my previous posts, I’ve shared some of our adventures in the Enchanted Circle area of New Mexico. Most of these were places that we visited on day trips away from our RV base camp at Angel Fire, but today, I want to share about our fun time in Angel Fire. I previously shared about our visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which is located just outside Angel Fire, too.
We stayed six days and five nights at Angel Fire RV Resort, which is part of Angel Fire Resort properties. This year-round RV park opened in May 2015, and it sits a few miles away from town, just off Highway 64. We were referred to this park by another RV friend who was quite impressed by it on a previous trip, and we opted to stay here because it was also centrally located for day trips to Taos, Eagle Nest and Red River.
The best option for us to drive to the area was Highway 64 from Cimarron, and the pass between Cimarron and Eagle Nest was very do-able in the RV, although *very* crowded with traffic on Labor Day with many people leaving the Enchanted Circle area to go home.
Angel Fire RV Resort guests are granted full access to all resort amenities, no matter where they are located in the area.
Hubby played golf at the resort on our first day in the area and received a discount, and we were also given two free passes to ride the chairlift to the top of the ski mountain, compliments of the resort, worth $24. It’s definitely worth taking these free and discounted items into account when deciding where to park the RV in this area.
RVs older than ten years must be pre-approved to stay at Angel Fire RV Resort. Since ours is more than ten years old, I sent a few photos to the RV resort office by email, and we were immediately approved for our stay. I will also share that this is definitely the most expensive RV park we have ever stayed in at about $70 per night, but after our awesome experience there, we would do it again in a heartbeat for a special vacation week such as this. If we took a nice vacation, stayed in a hotel and boarded the dogs, we would spend almost $60 per night just on boarding, so being able to bring them along on a nice vacation helped to justify this nightly rate. Plus, we had them along for the fun! After all, we are dog people.
We truly loved the spectacular views from the park, especially on the surreal foggy mornings we enjoyed our first few days there.
All the RV park amenities can be found on their website. What we enjoyed the most was the pad site itself (long and level), nice views of the area, gated security (since it is just off a busy road), outdoor hot tub, gorgeous landscaping everywhere in the park and the big, grassy “Bark Park” to let our dogs run off-leash a few times each day, which was a lot of fun for all of us.
While this is already a beautiful RV park with amazing landscaping and flowers, it’s going to be even more beautiful in a few years as the trees grow taller. There are a lot of trees in the park, and it should be a stunning place, for sure.
The large conference center on property is really nice. It also houses another camper restroom/shower facility with an outside entrance. This was the closest restroom/shower facility for us, and we opted to shower there on two days, just because it was so very nice! Just outside the center, we also enjoyed simply rocking in the nice wooden rockers in the evening after the campfire was lit.
To say the pups were happy at the “Bark Park” is an understatement! Next time, I will bring their Frisbee along. Having this nice dog park made us realize how much we wish other RV parks would consider adding one, too.
On the food front, there is a nice, well-stocked grocery store in Angel Fire, which is good to know since we discovered that there are only a few restaurants in the area. On the morning we departed for home, we also filled the RV with gas at a pump at the grocery store, too.
We dined out twice in Angel Fire and certainly enjoyed our food both times. We enjoyed a good pizza at Angel Fired Pizza for lunch. This restaurant is located on the second floor of a shopping center next to the grocery store, and we had a great view of the ski mountain as we dined. We also ate breakfast at The Bakery and Café at Angel Fire on our last full day in the area, and it was so good! I had a huge breakfast burrito, and it was almost more than I could eat, but somehow, I managed to eat the whole thing. They are not open for dinner, just breakfast and lunch.
Trails in the Angel Fire area allow dogs, something that is actually a bit rare for many areas in New Mexico.
We really enjoyed hiking one of the resort trails with the dogs one cool morning, and this trailhead is located just behind the Angel Fire Visitor’s Center in town.
The resort golf course is very pretty and is located just outside town. Hubby enjoyed playing the course, even though some brief rain showers interrupted play for a bit.
The resort lake, which is just past the golf course, is also a pretty place to visit, picnic, fish or rent a paddle boat.
One of the highlights of our trip was using our complimentary tickets from the resort and riding the chair lift to the top of the ski area. In years gone by, we brought our kids skiing here on a few occasions with other families from our church, so it was a bit surreal to ride the chairlift with no snow on the ground below us. It was even more awesome to ride it back down with the fabulous views of Angel Fire below us, growing closer and closer as we approached the base of the lift. Truly, the views riding back down were just fabulous!
In the warmer months, Angel Fire Ski Resort transitions to Angel Fire Bike Park, offering a large selection of downhill bike trails.
On the Friday we visited, there were several cyclists riding the chair lift up with their special bikes to ride the trails back to the bottom, and I admit that it looked like a lot of fun, too. The trails are rated by difficulty, just like the ski trails in winter. We could probably ride the green trails and may have to give this a try before we get much older. If we opt to do that, we will rent our bikes and other gear at one of the local shops nearby.
We dined at the outdoor grill at the top of the mountain for lunch. On the day we were there is was not too crowded, so it was a pleasant experience for us with great views.
At the top of the mountain resides an 18-hole disc golf course. We walked over to the first two holes after lunch, and it looks like a lot of fun. Just be aware that the altitude might take a bit to get used to. I started to feel pretty lightheaded while we were there, so we decided to forego any further exploration and head back down the mountain.
The resort also offers a zip line at the top of the mountain for those inclined to even more adventure. I’m not sure I’m ready for something like this, but I might could be talked into it, too.
We also made a quick afternoon drive to check out Coyote Creek State Park to the south of Angel Fire. This state park is remote, very pretty and has some hookups, but I doubt we ever take our RV there, since RVs are not permitted on the road between the park and Angel Fire… and for good reason. Vehicles over ten feet are not permitted on this road that is quite narrow in one stretch. Visitors to this state park must drive their RVs in from the south instead.
The drive to and from the state park was beautiful on a narrow and winding road through the tall trees, and we even stopped at one pullout to let the dogs get in the creek.
Girly Girl jumped right in the water, but Big Red wanted none of it. Fortunately, we brought along some old towels on the drive. Carry old towels is something we actually do most of the time when on vacation, especially when bringing the dogs with us.
We had a great time re-visiting this area after many years and look forward to returning again in the future. Our experience with Angel Fire RV Resort was so good that I suspect we will continue to base camp there, even if we stop over at Cimarron Canyon State Park for a night or two and maybe a night at Eagle Nest Lake State Park on the way next time. I also hope to spend a little more time in Taos and Red River next time, if possible, especially Taos.
We didn’t actually drive the Enchanted Circle highway between Taos and Questa, and that was our plan for this trip due to time constraints. On a future trip, we hope to complete the circle and visit that area, too.
I have one more post to share to complete my posts on this great trip, sharing some sights we saw on our drive to this area, especially Capulin Volcano National Monument in northern New Mexico. Look for that one soon!
For more good, detailed information on visiting the Enchanted Circle, please check out the article below.
Legends of America – Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway
My Five Fs 
Looks like a lovely RV park in a beautiful setting with a ton of amenities. Nice to hear you all had a great time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We did have a great time. There’s so much to see and do in this area, and we hardly scratched the surface.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like a place that you need to spend a few days at just to figure out all that’s there and to do. Looks lovely. Always laugh when you show pictures of your dogs and water. Our Bulldog Otis wasn’t so sure about water ! Funny guy he was…. Then again, he wasn’t a “sporting breed.” 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a fun area to visit with lots to see and do… or just hang out and relax. We actually did that, too… a nice mix for us. The dogs aren’t around water very often, unfortunately. Our female learned to swim at Inks Lake State Park a few years ago, and she absolutely loves the water, as most normal standard poodles do. Our male still hasn’t quite figured it out. He will get in it for a little bit but then jump out. It’s like someone forgot to tell him that he is supposed to like the water? lol He is definitely a little goofy in more ways than one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey — they each have their own personality. Right? 🙂
We seem to have gotten out of the “poking around” mode. It seems lately when we have moved we have moved with purpose instead of gradually making our way around the country and I’m not sure sometimes how I feel about that.
Our time in Los Fresnos is paid will 3/1 and we don’t have anywhere to be until 4/20. We have talked about possibly wandering over to AZ for most of that time, or just wandering around TX and we have no inkling which way it will turn out. As we were driving yesterday our daughter was messaging us back and forth because she’s trying to lock in vacation days for herself and she wanted to visit us, and see a cousin in Galveston, and a H.S. friend in Austin — and she made three or four sets of plans with differing dates in the 4 hours we were driving — and still nothing’s actually decided as her cousin is a Merchant Marine and he’s waiting on the union hall for a gig and doesn’t yet know when he’ll be back in Galveston — which of course does not keep her from wanting to make plans. 🙂 She’s our Cruise Director — loves making plans for other people. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s cute about your daughter and her plans. 😀 These days in the RV parks around Texas, though, we nearly *have* to plan a long way out for weekend sites, especially in the areas where the wildflowers are in central and south Texas, but not just those areas, for sure. The two canyon parks here are basically booked every single weekend these days. We were able to secure weekend sites for the weekends we wanted to travel this fall, but I had to reserve well in advance. We also had to change our Thanksgiving plans last week, and I have a site reserved at a great state park near San Antonio (Garner) for Wed-Sat nights. If you and Peg are interested, email me and I will give you more info. If interested, I will call and put it in your name… first night already paid. It’s such a great park and has been booked for that timeframe for quite some time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the offer, but there’s stuff going on here at the park and while we are often a bit standoffish we’ll see what’s goin’ on here.
I agree about planning ahead. Katy will get her act together soon; our holdup is waiting to find out what work detail Danny gets. He’s up for a captaincy in a larger ship than he has captained before so there’s a little more paperwork to determine whether he’s qualified to captain the vessel but she would like to see him this visit and waiting to know when he’ll be back home is the determinant. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ok, we will just go ahead and cancel so someone else will have a happy Thanksgiving. Wish we could go but will be staying home for the big day this year, maybe traveling after that. Hope your plans all work out ok.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Didn’t have much time to reply yesterday. I really appreciate your having thought of us with the reservation. That was very kind of you. We’re kind of playing things by ear this year, and trying not to wander too far right now. We are considering a couple weeks away from the rv park either early next year, or at the end of our stay here, so we want to make the most of our time here; which doesn’t mean doing a lot, but rather just enjoying being. 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
No problem. This all just came about a few days ago, and we can’t find anyone here that can use those days, unfortunately, and it’s just a little too far for us to only go for two nights. I’m sure it will get snapped up as soon as I cancel… extremely popular place. Enjoy your time in the valley!
LikeLike