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Monday, April 11, 2016

New Mexico Adventures: San Antonio Hot Springs

One of the great things about this job is that we have a solid 2 days off each weekend. This means every Saturday and Sunday, we become weekend warriors and explore the surrounding area! I'm behind on my updates, so here is a report from our first weekend here, when we got ourselves in hot water ...
Apparently, New Mexico is the hot spot (no pun intended) for the perfect natural soaking tub. This is due to the residual geothermal heat from the cataclysmic volcanic eruptions in this region that occurred 13 million years ago.
Our first hot spring to check out was San Antonio, which is a short drive from Fenton Ranch, where we live and work.

San Antonio Hot Springs is a collection of 4 undeveloped mineral hot tubs (ranging from 105-129 degrees!) flowing out of a steep hillside with phenomenal views.

There is 4WD road access to San Antonio Hot Springs during the summer months, but the gate to the road is closed this time of year. So we had to walk the 5-mile (one way) jeep road, but it was extremely flat and even scenic at times.


San Antonio Hot Springs is pretty popular, even when you have to hike in. But we pretty much beat the crowds getting to the pools around lunch time on a Saturday. Most people are driving up from the city and only getting to the trailhead by lunch. So we only had to share the space with 6-8 other people.


Anyway, it was pretty cool ... I mean hot. (come on, LOL with me)

We also explored a few other tourist haunts around the Jemez Mountains, including the neat Gilman Tunnels, which are old railroad tunnels carved through red rock canyon walls.


5 comments:

  1. Very cool! Well, at least at the end of the 5 miles you can relax a bit.

    I'm reading Fire Season right now which takes place in NM, so I've been thinking about y'all a lot. You should put it on your to-read list.

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  2. How nice that you guys are getting weekends off now! When we lived in Maine we only got one day per week off, but we always made it a point to take a "vacation" day and see the sights - it was so much fun!

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  3. You two find he best that nature has to offer no matter where you are!

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  4. Prices are reasonable, food is delicious, and wait staff is sweet, conscientious, and adorable. I came here for an event, got contained to upstairs. Service at LA event venues was prompt and food was awesome.

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