Taos to Amarillo early May

[tutuwahinelv]

Hi all, new to this site and hope you can help with a question or 2.
We're planning a mega road trip next May, and I'm in the early planning stages. Am curious, do you think there will be issues with snow and road difficulties in the area around Taos and Angel Fire in late April/early May? Will be headed to Amarillo, and would rather take this route than return to Santa Fe and head on I-40.

I'm traveling with my mother, who is in the second half of her 70's and doesn't do snow and ice. We are looking for more scenic route, instead of just rolling down the soulless interstate.

tia, for any suggestions

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

..."Better not tell you now."

There is simply no way anyone, even if (s)he has a Ph.D. in Meteorology, is going to be able to tell you what the weather is going to be in six months. Even past climate/weather is no guarantee given the rate at which the climate is changing.

So, what to do at this point? I'd just go ahead and plan for the best case, looking at using US-64/NM-58/I-25/US-412/US-87 through a couple of National Grasslands (Kiowa and Rita Blanca). If the weather looks bad a day or two before you drive this leg, then you'll either have to delay your travel for a day or so until the road crews have done their job and the highways are clear, or take NM-518/US-84 down to I-40. BUT, note that the most likely place to see snow and/or ice is in the Taos area, so in all likelihood ANY bad weather will force you to reschedule this leg of your drive.

AZBuck

[Rick Quinn]

Hello!

As Buck says, you won't know the weather until the time arrives, but there are alternatives if winter weather is a problem; snow IS possible along that stretch, even in late April; it's part of a scenic route they call the Enchanted Circle; US 64 crosses a high pass between Taos and Angel Fire that's more than 9100 feet in elevation, so it's cold there even in mid-summer. If you travel with a smartphone or tablet, the New Mexico Department of Transportation has a website that tracks road conditions across the state: nmroads.com.

Returning to Santa Fe wouldn't be the end of the world: when you drive from Santa Fe to Taos, take the Low Road (also know as the River Road), which follows the Rio Grande north from Espanola to Taos and offers spectacular views of the Gorge. Returning from Taos to Santa Fe, take the High Road through Penasco, Truchas, and Chimayo. The two routes are totally different, and they're both amazing.

And there would be no need to go back to I-40 from Santa Fe. You could take I-25 through Las Vegas, NM (an interesting town in its own right); then keep going north to Springer, and take US 412 east through the grasslands, as Buck suggested. Good chance you'll see antelope along the road, and you would be passing near two National Monuments: Fort Union, and Capulin Volcano; both are worth a stop.

If the weather is clear and you do go east from Taos through Angel Fire, you'll come down out of the mountains through Cimarron Canyon, which is a very pretty drive. From Cimarron, head east on NM 58 to I-25. Springer, and US 412, are just a few miles south of that junction.


Rick