Backpacking last week of march with small kids (New Mexico?)

I’ve been out camping in the Carson National Forest between Colorado and New Mexico, but only a night at a time and car camping.  You could look at making Pagosa Springs your base, the hot pools there are great and not very expensive and a wonderful reward for hiking all day.  There are a range of little loops that could be done.  Bearing in mind that it’s high and cold at night.  Or, if the spring runoff has started, extremely muddy.  But the runoff hasn’t started yet.

Another place is around Abiquiu.  My kids LOVE visiting Echo Amphitheater.  But again I’ve visited this by car.  But there’s a campground behind the amphitheater and the best time to visit is when it’s not too hot.  Wonderful New Mexico stuff.   But don’t get me started, I absolutely love northern New Mexico.

Be careful re northern NM in late March — you’ll want to stick to lower elevations as there will still be a lot of snow and it’s cold. Even lower elevations in no. NM are often cold that time of year.

Southern NM is awesome — it will be warmer than northern NM that time of year. Just be aware that spring tends to be very windy all over the state, especially in the afternoons. There is great hiking outside of Las Cruces without tons of elevation change and temps are nice there in March. You could hit White Sands — backpacking is permitted there and you can rent sleds for the kids so they can slide down the dunes (pretty much a full day’s entertainment!). Gila NF is great too (again, lots of trails where there isn’t crazy elevation change plus unlike many parts of NM, there is water) — miles of forest roads where you can park undisturbed and backpack. The kiddos would love the Gila Cliff Dwellings; there are hot springs too. Silver City is very fun for a town stop, with lots of old west history. Good food too.

Yeah, for late March southern New Mexico is the way to go. You’re still rather likely to have cold and snow up here in the north. Recommendations for the Gila are spot on. Could still be a bit nippy, but better chances of nice weather, and there will not be nearly as much snow still on the ground.