City Of Rocks SP: Routes 152 & 61?

Here is a shot I took about 6 years ago at City of Rocks SP. What an amazing CG and we had it virtually all to ourselves:

No, no toad. Your account paints a good picture. Thanks.

Do you tow a toad with your Class C? Just wondered because we towed our 21' TT over NM 152 and it was a LOOOOOONG drive. We live in Colorado and don't mind a mountain road with a lot of curves, but that one was exceedingly difficult for me to drive. I probably wouldn't have done it twice with the TT and definitely wouldn't with the 5th wheel.

However, we enjoyed driving part of NM 152 again two months ago during a month of snowbirding in Las Cruces. We were in the Ram truck (no trailer), but still skipped the I-25 to Hillsboro part of NM 152. We drove NM 187 and NM 26/27 to Hillsboro, then NM 152 and US 180 to Silver City. NM 27 has rolling hills and a lot of gentle curves, but is nothing like NW 152 east of Hillsboro. We went back via US 180 to Deming and I-10 to Las Cruces, but didn't stop at City of Rocks SP because it is a ways off the highway and it was late in the day (I drove the whole day-trip and was getting hungry and cranky!).

If you have never seen an open-pit copper mine, be sure to stop at the overlook for the Chino Mine at Santa Rita just before you get to US 180. It has some great interpretive signs to tell you about the history of this huge hole in the ground. Takes a lot of dirt moving to make all those pennies!

Good info, thanks folks. Yeah, we are under 12 feet tall. It would be part of a fairly long day, so I'll have to think about if we would be enjoying it, or just wanting it to be done. At least now I can make an informed decision.

My wife does does not enjoy that kind of ride. But we are headed next up to the UT NP's, and Colorado, so she's going to have to get along to go along. :)

Desert Captain wrote:

We are headed to Dead Horse Ranch SP in Cottonwood on Tuesday. Towing the Harley once again and plan on riding Oak Creek Canyon,....

We were just there so you might want to check the hours of road work on 89A in Oak Creek Canyon. It's been changing off and on from one-lane to total closing to fully open. Road work all summer. Sedona was a zoo!

Here's a YouTube of Hwy 152. Motorcyclists love it so don't get in their way! :)

From the 'Mountain Directory for Truckers & RVers': There are two bridges with 12'8" vertical clearance just east of Kingston. (I doubt that you're that high). "This road is almost constant curves for 25 miles - 10-25 mph curves. You'll have grades up to 6 percent. Emory Pass is at elevation 8228'."

Your option if heading south on I-25 is to go down to Hatch and take 26 to 180 and north to City of Rocks.

Try to park in the rocks - some cool sites there. Of course, if it's too hot they do have some electric sites. Have fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuzrwf2ixCY

Snowman, go for it you will love the drive. We have been both east and west on that route and you know what our 24' Nexus looks like. City of Rocks is awesome, take your time selecting a site. That will probably take a couple of laps as there are so many interesting sites to choose from.

When you leave there a run up through Silver City and then on up 180 to Alpine {don't miss the Bear Wallow Cafe}, and Big Lake - Rainbow Campground {lots of first come first serve sites at 9,200'}, would be a lot of fun.

We are headed to Dead Horse Ranch SP in Cottonwood on Tuesday. Towing the Harley once again and plan on riding Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, Jerome and perhaps Prescott. Hope our paths cross again.

Steve and Jeanne

Its doable.

152 is a slow go. Lots of tight curves and sort of steep once you get past Hillsboro. It is a pretty drive with a great view from the top of Emory Pass. The parking lot up there is small and would be hard to turn around in. I took a 16 foot utility trailer in there and had a hell of a time getting it turned around. That could be why there's a sign that says no trailers at the turn in.

Speed limit is about 30 or 35 if I remember right. Been over a year since I did it. There are also two low clearance bridges on 152, I think 12 9. But they are higher in the center. I wouldn't worry about clearing them in my 5er that is 11 3

Once you get to the bottom of Emory Pass the road gets a little better.


61 is fairly flat but has a few curves in it.

If I was going to use one of the campgrounds on the west side like Upper Gallinas I would go to Deming and go up from the west. Lower Gallinas was closed last time we were there and Iron Creek is kind of a tight turn to get into

From Lake Roberts on NM 35 to El Paso takes an hour longer if we take 152 to I 10 with the truck and utility trailer. Probably be a bigger difference pulling the 5er

If it shows pavement all the way, with your size rig I would say go for it.

Been on some cool rides over mountain tops.. takes 2 hours to go 50 miles, but you never forget the trip.