This weekend I wanted to celebrate the arrival of spring with a night out camping somewhere, so on Saturday afternoon I consulted my little New Mexico campgrounds book for locales near Albuquerque. One chapter focused on campgrounds east and southeast of Albuquerque- locations within an hour of the city, behind the Manzanos.

Among the 8 or so options listed was Tajique Campgrounds- a small fee-less site nestled on a windy road down near Mountainair.

It sounded good to me. It was about 5:45 Saturday evening when I got on the road, after leaving and going back to the house twice to pick up forgotten things.

The route out there was pretty straight forward: Tramway south to I-40; I-40 east to Tijeras and NM-337; NM-377 south to Tajique. And the drive felt pretty straight forward out there as well, until the sun started to fall near the mountain line to my right off the road, signalling day end was near, and I was not passing by any clear guideposts or towns. After passing through little Chilili, I continued to race the sun until NM-377 dead-ended at an east-west junction. Finally I saw the sign- Tajique was 3 miles to the right. A saddle in the mountain ahead bought me some time, and soon I rounded a corner and ahead was a short strip of buildings- capped at the far end by a small church. Right beyond the church was a cemetery, and behind it the turnoff west to the campground- onto a dusty rocky rutted rising forest road.

In a short time, the trees surrounding the road abruptly became black whiskers peppering each hillside, betraying the devastation caused by either the Big Spring Fire of 2008 or area fires in 2011. With sunlight fading, my heart sunk- what if the campsite was closed because of fire damage. I continued ahead anyways, and after a few more winds in the road, I was suddenly again among a healthy forest. A turn later, and there on the left was the entrance to the campground.

Tajique is a 6 lot site squeezed into a shallow valley off the road. A canyon wall and a creek bound it on the west, so it feels intimate, and when I arrived, one other vehicle was present. The campgrounds has facilities and a trash receptacle, so it is maintained.

In 20 minutes, my tent was up as the last light and warmth of the sun faded.

Mission accomplished.

The other campers were 5 college kids, and shortly after dark, the smell of their onions and bell peppers cooking for fajitas was enticing. I went over and introduced myself, and then we went on with our nights.

As I had left the house earlier, I wasn’t greatly worried about food, so I had grabbed a few random items: a frozen steak from the freezer, a left over beer from a get together half a year earlier, some tea cookies my folks had given me, a boiled egg, some oatmeal for breakfast, and some coffee.

The rest of my evening involved frying the steak on the old family Coleman stove, working on finishing a short story, Icicles, in William Gass’ “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country” collection, and sitting in the dark by the tent listening to wind in the trees and the soft chatter of the nearby creek. The stars were vivid glowing above, and I did catch one shooting star.

By 10:15, I was getting a little cold, so I went to bed.

This trip also allowed me to try out a camping cot I had purchased last year for the first time, and that cot made sleeping pretty comfortable.

As expected, when I got up shortly after sunrise at about 6:45, the canyon was cold. My neighbors snoozed as I rose and built a fire in the nearby pit. Once it was raging pretty well, I made some coffee, ate the egg, and sat near it for a long while to warm up and finish the story.

In time, my neighbors awoke and rolled out of their tent and made breakfast. The valley warmed, the creek babbled, the fire popped, I read. And then it was time to tear down and head home. After I was packed and the truck was loaded, I took a short hike toward the burnt out area near the campsite.

As I drove back to Albuquerque around 11, I stopped in Tajique to snap a few photos.

For a small intimate campsite close to Albuquerque, I certainly recommend this little site. Camping there was a nice way to enter Easter Day, 2016.