This is the seventh post in our series about New Mexico parks, our fourth about day trips from Brantley Lake State Park. On this day, we took a sunrise hike in a beautiful meadow full of flowers and went on a somewhat disappointing drive on Ridge Road to see Five Points Vista. Stay tuned to read our full review.
Dog Canyon
The Dog Canyon section of Guadalupe National Park is a 70 mile drive from Carlsbad, 110 from Pine Springs area, or just 63 miles from Brantley Lake State Park. We just drove on 137 all the way to the end of the road. The canyon lies at an elevation 6700 feet and is extremely remote.
The campground has 9 tent sites and 4 RV sites for rigs under 23 feet. They do have restrooms with flush toilets, but no showers.
We arrived at the park just after sunrise. The area has a visitor center, but the website says it is only open intermittently depending on staff.
We then took the delightful Indian Springs Hike, which I describe in more detail in the 5 Hikes for Every Energy Level.
Five Points Vista
After enjoying the beautiful flowers, we got back in the car to take the scenic drive to Five Points Vista. We drove back on road 137 until right before the town of Queen, where we turned off on Forest Road 540 for about 3 miles.
You will pass many different pull-offs with viewpoints until you get to the Five Points Vista.
Unfortunately, wildfires obscured our view for most of the drive. I wrote about that in my post, Hazy View.
We saw a plethora of good BLM camping sites on this road.
After that drive, we got back on 137 and stopped for lunch and an enjoyable hike at Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area. See our post here.
Final Thoughts
I would definitely recommend this day trip, though you might want to check weather conditions to get a better view on your drive to Five Points Vista.
Next week we will explore some sites on our way to our next base camp: Elephant Butte Lake State Park. See you then!