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Looking for suggestions/info. I'm planning to move to NM in the next 12 months. Here is a short list of things I'd like to include in a location. Just getting started looking, so any help is appreciated. Thanks!
1. Higher elevation for coolish summers.
2. Access to great trail systems and outdoor activities.
3. Equestrian friendly.
4. Local airport, or major airport within 3 hour drive.
Looking for suggestions/info. I'm planning to move to NM in the next 12 months. Here is a short list of things I'd like to include in a location. Just getting started looking, so any help is appreciated. Thanks!
1. Higher elevation for coolish summers.
2. Access to great trail systems and outdoor activities.
3. Equestrian friendly.
4. Local airport, or major airport within 3 hour drive.
Do you need a reasonable sized city? Check Santa Fe (pop 85,000; metro 129,000).
1. Summers only have a few scorching days (Over 90F). There are even people who live in higher elevations in town who get by with no A/C. Average high in July: 85F
2. Abuts on the southern end of Sangre De Cristo Mountains which have numerous peaks 10-13,000+ dozens of miles of trails, and a medium ski area.
3. Outside the city center there are plenty of properties where one could stable horses.
4. About 1 hr. to "major" airport in Albuquerque (where anything else you could need that Santa Fe doesn't have would provide for that matter).
Looking for a smaller (much smaller) town, look at Taos (pop 5,900).
1. Comfortable summer temps. Average high in July: 86F
2. Also against the Sangre De Cristos with its extensive trail networks, world class skiing, close to the Colorado border (and more mountains), and near the Taos box canyon which is the premier whitewater area of the state.
3. Plenty of equestrian suitable properties.
4. About 3 hours from major airport.
Based on your criteria, both are pretty similar climactically, and with regard to outdoor recreation opportunities. Santa Fe will have more social and cultural opportunities and jobs. It s properties will also be a bit more expensive unless you get further from town (and even then). On the other hand, Taos can be lonely and provincial for an outsider, though the people are generally good up there.
Closer to Albuquerque -- you might consider Placitas or Coralles. Summer temps will be a bit warmer than Taos. Albuquerque has had only about 96 100-degree days in the past 81 years so this is not like parts of Arizona. Being at a higher elevation means the sun will get you before the heat.
Taos, Santa Fe and Los Alamos have hiking trails. LA has a fabulous nature preserve outside it, where one can view seasonal elk herd migrations and other wonders. It depends on whether you're looking for a small town, medium town, or bigger city. All three of those are at an elevation where temps are cool-er, IDK about cool-ish. We're currently in the 90's here in Santa Fe, and have been for nearly a week. NM recently experienced about 12 years of higher temps year-round, followed by a break of about 3 years (4, if you count this year, which may be debatable), of almost back to normal temps, mostly in the 70's in the summers, getting into the 80's for a bit. Climatologists say, the future trend will be for more long periods of higher temps, with occasional 2-3 year breaks of something close to what used to be "normal".
There's also Ruidoso, which is at a higher elevation, very scenic, lots of water (rivers, creeks) and greenery, small town.
SF has it's own airport with flights to Denver, where travelers can transfer to further flights, and also to Phoenix and Dallas. Otherwise, there's Albuquerque's Sunport, which is about 1 hr. away from SF, 2 hrs. + from Taos, roughly 1-1/2 hr. from Los Alamos. Shuttle service is available.
Truth or Consequences. Recreational opportunities at Elephant Butte Reservoir and the entire Black Range Mountains and Gila Wilderness just a short drive away.
One of my supervisors was an avid rider and lived in the East Mountains on North 14 near Albuquerque. Moved to Corrales to be closer to her job but found the river trails to be boring compared to the more rugged and open trails in the East Mountains.
If you don't mind living in a more isolated small town (about 2 1/2 hours to El Paso Airport), consider Silver City in the SW part of the state. A climate similar to Santa Fe and on the edge of the Gila National Forest. And less expensive than the other areas mentioned.
Ruidoso should be equestrian friendly. They were known for their racetrack and attracted many horsey people (horse breeders and owners, jockeys, trainers, etc.) from Texas in their day. Not sure it this is still the case.
Taos, Santa Fe and Los Alamos have hiking trails. LA has a fabulous nature preserve outside it, where one can view seasonal elk herd migrations and other wonders. It depends on whether you're looking for a small town, medium town, or bigger city. All three of those are at an elevation where temps are cool-er, IDK about cool-ish. We're currently in the 90's here in Santa Fe, and have been for nearly a week. NM recently experienced about 12 years of higher temps year-round, followed by a break of about 3 years (4, if you count this year, which may be debatable), of almost back to normal temps, mostly in the 70's in the summers, getting into the 80's for a bit. Climatologists say, the future trend will be for more long periods of higher temps, with occasional 2-3 year breaks of something close to what used to be "normal".
There's also Ruidoso, which is at a higher elevation, very scenic, lots of water (rivers, creeks) and greenery, small town.
SF has it's own airport with flights to Denver, where travelers can transfer to further flights, and also to Phoenix and Dallas. Otherwise, there's Albuquerque's Sunport, which is about 1 hr. away from SF, 2 hrs. + from Taos, roughly 1-1/2 hr. from Los Alamos. Shuttle service is available.
Everywhere is equestrian friendly.
Exactly - the definition of "coolness" is relative. I thought Albuquerque was excellent a year ago when I moved from Phoenix for a temporary project. I loved it because the weather was great compared to Phoenix in July. It was about 116F when I left Phoenix. Then I moved to Albuquerque. I found the rent was low compared to Phoenix and housing costs per square foot and quality are about 100k cheaper (lol).
As for hiking and outdoor runnig, I went to HS in Santa Fe long ago as a teen. Back then, the local Pueblos taught me to raise my VO2 max with daily running at high altitude. The weather in Santa Fe was perfect - you could year-round outdoors. Albuquerque is like that too. A funny thing happened when I hiked La Luz Trail a year ago. I met hikers about halfway up complaining of the "hot 85F" temperature. I told them I had just left Phoenix when it was about 115F and thought the 85F was cool.
The main problem I found with ABQ was the job market for engineers. There aren't nearly as many options in ABQ for such projects when compared with Phoenix, Denver, or Austin, TX. After my project ended I had offers near Fort Collins, CO and Phoenix. I ended up back in Phoenix. The job market in ABQ is worse now because of the pandemic. I know the NM unemployment system was backed up. With layoffs and loss of HMO coverage, former workers also rely on Medicaid or Medicare. And that system got overwhelmed up in Santa Fe for the state agency that processes claims. It's a tough time out there eonomically.
But I miss Albuquerque badly. I wish I were hiking up La Luz Trail this weekend or doing my HS running route near Fort Marcy. It was fun to be a teen in Santa Fe playing basketball on weekends then going to Lota Burgers afterwards. I miss those days. Santa Fe was a great place to be a teen. I came back briefly in middle-age for a short-term project. It was awesome to relive my runs in Santa Fe. I had so many flashbacks running on those hills around Fort Marcy - a total runner's high at 7000 feet.
Exactly - the definition of "coolness" is relative. I thought Albuquerque was excellent a year ago when I moved from Phoenix for a temporary project. I loved it because the weather was great compared to Phoenix in July. It was about 116F when I left Phoenix. Then I moved to Albuquerque. I found the rent was low compared to Phoenix and housing costs per square foot and quality are about 100k cheaper (lol).
As for hiking and outdoor runnig, I went to HS in Santa Fe long ago as a teen. Back then, the local Pueblos taught me to raise my VO2 max with daily running at high altitude. The weather in Santa Fe was perfect - you could year-round outdoors. Albuquerque is like that too. A funny thing happened when I hiked La Luz Trail a year ago. I met hikers about halfway up complaining of the "hot 85F" temperature. I told them I had just left Phoenix when it was about 115F and thought the 85F was cool.
The main problem I found with ABQ was the job market for engineers. There aren't nearly as many options in ABQ for such projects when compared with Phoenix, Denver, or Austin, TX. After my project ended I had offers near Fort Collins, CO and Phoenix. I ended up back in Phoenix. The job market in ABQ is worse now because of the pandemic. I know the NM unemployment system was backed up. With layoffs and loss of HMO coverage, former workers also rely on Medicaid or Medicare. And that system got overwhelmed up in Santa Fe for the state agency that processes claims. It's a tough time out there eonomically.
But I miss Albuquerque badly. I wish I were hiking up La Luz Trail this weekend or doing my HS running route near Fort Marcy. It was fun to be a teen in Santa Fe playing basketball on weekends then going to Lota Burgers afterwards. I miss those days. Santa Fe was a great place to be a teen. I came back briefly in middle-age for a short-term project. It was awesome to relive my runs in Santa Fe. I had so many flashbacks running on those hills around Fort Marcy - a total runner's high at 7000 feet.
Thanks for sharing. Great stories! Have you considered applying for engineering work at Los Alamos? Or Sandia? They're still busy with an active payroll. Most of their people are working from home, AFAIK.
Raise your "VO2 max"? Was that a typo? That reminds me; I remember reading there was a running team from East Africa, that settled into Albuquerque for training for important marathons and the Olympics. The altitude helped them, they said. I think they were from Sudan? For even higher elevation running, try Los Alamos. (And cooler weather.)
I love Ft. Marcy, and have a paid gym membership for the year. I wonder what they're going to do with those annual memberships, if they don't re-open this year. Maybe they'll let us carry them over to next year. The hills around Ft. Marcy off Bishop's Lodge Rd are built up, now. Probably look quite different, than when you were a kid. I lived up there for awhile, in what my neighbor told me was one of the original cabins in the hills. It has its own microclimate up there. In early October of every year, there would be a very light, sparse snowfall. When I first saw it, I didn't know what it was, because the weather was seemingly clear, as usual, and it wasn't cold down in town. Completely unexpected. True snowy weather was still a couple of months away. But there would be one day around Oct. 10 each year, when a hint of snow would appear in those hills, seemingly mysteriously. It would be cool to be a runner up there, on that day.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 07-18-2020 at 05:47 AM..
Grants, NM. You have Mount Taylor, yet are only an hour away from the ABQ airport. I do not know if the economy there is still on the boom or bust cycle due to uranium mining. Kind of dry in town though. El Malpais to the south. Not influenced too much by Native American communities (unlike Gallup).
Farmington, NM. A nice medium sized city with plenty of water. Fishing, boating, hiking, horses. If you want to go climbing, the 14ers in CO are close by. They have a regional airport. The last time I was there, it was on a boom cycle due to oil and natural gas exploration.
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