New Mexico, Colorado

[Dave_the_Piper]

We will be traveling from Texas to New Mexico then on to the Durango/four corners/mesa Verde area. Pulling a 38' fiver with a Chevy 2500. We can leave from Albuquerque or Santa FE. What is the best route to minimize steep grades and tight mountain roads? I figure once we are camped we can travel with just the truck or rent a jeep for sight seeing. Any and all thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

Route 550 out of Albuquerque appears to be the simplest, 84 From
Santa Fe might be more challenging.

[bubbles]

550 in NM (Bernalillo, just north of Albquerque) is all 4 lane 70mph to the CO border and I think in CO to Durango (20 miles) is 2 lane. I believe it's the truck route so shouldn't be bad.

[NO3putt]

just south of Cortez there is a UTE Casno, nice campground with indoor pool at casino and outdoor pool at campground. We stayed there a week and used passport america for the entire stay as long as we paid daily. The UTEs offer a guided tour to some of their ruins and all were not reconstructed like the ones at mesa verde.

[La Plata View]

Agree with Bubbles. For the ease of the drive take I-25 north out of Albuquerque to Hwy 550 at Bernalillo. Gas up as things get pretty thin once you're more than 10 miles from the I-25 turn-off. Grades are reasonable and there's some interesting scenery ranging from mountain views to "moon-scape". You'll pass right by the turn off for Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. It's a very interesting place to visit but the road going to it is really bad.

Staying near Durango puts you central to a number of destinations. There's the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail Road, the drive north over the Million Dollar Hwy, the entrance to Mesa Verde is about 45 minutes west, Chimney Rock National Mount about 30 east, Lake Vallecito, etc. Anything in particular you're interested in seeing?