Love it or hate it, it's time to change your clocks again. Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 6th at 2am.
Come celebrate the last day of daylight saving time with a scenic Saturday morning drive up the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Witness the fiery color changes of fall foliage as you wind around Hyde Park Road (NM-475) up to the Aspen Vista Picnic Ground. The road is paved all the way up, so even the smallest sedans and coupes will have no problem. The views from the parking area looking across Pacheco Canyon from Tesuque Peak to Thompson Peak will have you snapping endless pictures before you even leave your vehicle.  Around the corner, GZ provides a secluded spot to meet & greet and celebrate 20(+) years of Geocaching.
What to expect
There are 3 picnic tables at GZ to accomodate about 18 people. There's also plenty of room for anyone who would like to bring their own camping chairs or folding tables (It's only about 150-200ft from the parking area to GZ).
You can't have a birthday celebration without cake! I'll provide cake, plates, forks, and bottled water. Please feel free to bring up any other food for yourself or to share with the group (no alcohol permitted here please).
Door prizes every 15 minutes
We will be just below 10,000ft in elevation so the temperature will be a few degrees cooler than the normal day-to-day in Santa Fe. Be prepared for any weather conditions. At this elevation it's possible to experience sunny skies, windburn, rain, snow, or all of the above.
There are also 2 trailheads located at the Southeast corner of the parking area for anyone interested in a hike. The Alamos Vista Trail, with 8 available geocaches, goes up to 11,000ft and the Santa Fe Ski Basin. The Tesuque Creek Trail, with 24 available geocaches, goes up to Santa Fe Lake and continues up to almost 12,000ft near Deception Peak. There are easily an additional 50-60 geocaches located up and down NM-475 just waiting for your logs. (Cell phone internet access starts cutting out for many people along NM-475. If there are specific geocaches you're interested in, you may want to consider bringing along a GPSr or saving the coordinates ahead of time).
There will be a basket available to rescue any geocoins, travel bugs, or other trackables that may be waiting to travel. Feel free to retrieve a trackable from the basket if you can help it reach its goal.
2Â working vault toilets (stocked with bathroom tissue) are located 100ft away from GZ in a small shelter building.
Considerations
I realize 9am-11am might be a little early for some people. Parking up and down NM-475 on the weekends typically fills up by 11-11:30am and usually stays that way for much of the day. The Aspen Vista Picnic Ground does not take reservations, and its parking lot for 35-40 vehicles is strictly first come, first served. By hosting a morning event we will have first pick of the parking spots next to GZ, access to stunning high-altitude mountain views without crowds of strangers to dull the experience, and stress-free quiet time with Mother Nature.
If you'd prefer not to drive up the mountain, Santa Fe's RTD (Blue Bus) #255 provides service from the South Capitol Rail Runner station up to the ski basin. It will drop you off (and pick you up) right at the Aspen Vista Picnic Ground parking area.
This might be your last chance to earn Geocaching's limited release of the Community Celebration icon!
Watch this page for any updates as the event date nears.
Community Celebration Events - 2020
This Event is part of a limited release of Community Celebration Events to celebrate 20 years of Geocaching. Geocachers hosted events between May 2, 2020 and December 31, 2022. Learn more about Community Celebration Events on the Geocaching Blog.