Cowles Campground (Pecos)

Latitude, Longitude: 35.812683, -105.6643532 Elevation: 8250 ft
Weather Forecast:  http://tinyurl.com/cowlesWeather
Fire Restrictions: http://firerestrictions.us/nm/nm-usfs/santa-fe-nf--pecos-las-vegas-district/

So, it came time to look for another snow campout spot.  Because we like to go in December over the Christmas break, we couldn't go into the Jemez, as they don't usually have a lot of snow that early in the season.  But, we didn't want a 3-hr drive into the far regions of northern New Mexico, either.  I must admit, I am in some ways fairly picky about snow camping.  I'd like lots of snow, but I don't want to have to drive 3-4 hours to get it.  Then I also have a mild preference for an established campsite, if only for the reason that if I have to get up in the middle of the night when the wind is howling and it's -5F outside, I really want the shelter of an outhouse to do my business.  I also prefer to get away (as with any campout), to where there are not a lot of people around.  And, finally, given that we tend to bring a lot of gear when doing winter car campouts, I really don't want to have to hike in 200 yards from the car multiple times to get all the gear to the camp site.

Everywhere we've gone so far for winter campouts has failed one of those preferences - mostly the one about having to haul in your gear a long ways.

After some investigations and several calls to various National Forest Ranger Districts, we decided to try something along the Pecos Canyon.  There are multiple campsites north of the town of Pecos.  We figured we'd just drive until we found enough snow.  We were a little worried, as over the 2014 Christmas break, there wasn't a ton of snow.  Almost none in the town of Pecos.  We kept driving up the canyon, and after a while, we saw a *little* snow.  But, then the further we drove, the worse it got.  I almost thought we'd have to turn around and go back to Big Tesuque again up by Santa Fe.  Finally, we turned the corner, and hit the Cowles campground, part of Santa Fe National Forest.  It was great!

USFS Cowles Campground Webpage

As it sits at the base of a north-facing slope, the entire campground was covered in at least 8-12" of pristine snow.  Pecos isn't a over-populated sledding area, so we practically didn't see another human the entire time we were there.  It only took about 90 minutes to get there from Albuquerque.  It was quiet, and the sky was beautiful.  And, we could drive right into a snow-covered parking lot within 50 feet of our tent area.  Additionally, because the campsite was right at the base of a snowy hill, we had decent sledding opportunities right there, without needing to go anywhere else.  It really worked out very well.

I realize the weather and snow will vary from year to year, but I will definitely keep this in mind for next year.