Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

drjjj · 04-22-2020, 01:46 PM

I live in San Antonio, Texas. I elk hunted in the Chama many years back in the late 80's-90's, usually the first season (bugling season). Chama is absolutely gorgeous that time of year. DW had never been to that part of the country so a couple of years ago we went up through Las Cruces, Santa Fe, and spent about 10 days in Chama in October. The Cumbres & Toltec train ride is not to be missed, IMHO. Folks literally come from all over the world to ride that train. There is an RV park at the train station area, but it is not near as nice as Sky Mountain which is a very short drive south of Chama. The park is owned by a couple from AZ if memory serves. She is a nurse and he is a maintenance worker at the hospital she works at. Really nice folks. Story they told me was they came through Chama on a motorcycle trip many years ago and fell in love with the area. They bought the property which borders the Chama River so you can fish while you are there. Very clean, well maintained park, reasonable cost. They open up sometime in late spring and we closed the park down on Oct 31. Chama gets a lot of snow in the winter. We actually got snowed on one day while we were there. Most of the local shops and restaurants stay open until Oct 31, but not many folks except for train riders. There is a Lowe's Grocery store in Chama that carries pretty much everything you would need, but getting RV repair there would be tough-I think the closest RV repair would be in Santa Fe, but there are a couple of Auto Parts shops and garages. On the park owner's recommendation we took the bus from Chama to Antonito and rode the train back to Chama. They said the view was better on that route vs. Chama to Antonito. Even late in the year the train books up well in advance in all classes so I would advise reservations well in advance. I did that and my DW was ill the day we were scheduled to go but the train staff let us use our tickets another day. If you want more information you can PM me. As I write this I can't wait to go back! As I said, October is beautiful there-the "quakkies" (aspen trees) are all turning and the weather is cool. If you go late October be prepared for a freeze-it could happen.

04-22-2020, 01:46 PM	#25
drjjj Montana Fan Join Date: May 2006 Location: San Antonio Posts: 429 M.O.C. #5757	I live in San Antonio, Texas. I elk hunted in the Chama many years back in the late 80's-90's, usually the first season (bugling season). Chama is absolutely gorgeous that time of year. DW had never been to that part of the country so a couple of years ago we went up through Las Cruces, Santa Fe, and spent about 10 days in Chama in October. The Cumbres & Toltec train ride is not to be missed, IMHO. Folks literally come from all over the world to ride that train. There is an RV park at the train station area, but it is not near as nice as Sky Mountain which is a very short drive south of Chama. The park is owned by a couple from AZ if memory serves. She is a nurse and he is a maintenance worker at the hospital she works at. Really nice folks. Story they told me was they came through Chama on a motorcycle trip many years ago and fell in love with the area. They bought the property which borders the Chama River so you can fish while you are there. Very clean, well maintained park, reasonable cost. They open up sometime in late spring and we closed the park down on Oct 31. Chama gets a lot of snow in the winter. We actually got snowed on one day while we were there. Most of the local shops and restaurants stay open until Oct 31, but not many folks except for train riders. There is a Lowe's Grocery store in Chama that carries pretty much everything you would need, but getting RV repair there would be tough-I think the closest RV repair would be in Santa Fe, but there are a couple of Auto Parts shops and garages. On the park owner's recommendation we took the bus from Chama to Antonito and rode the train back to Chama. They said the view was better on that route vs. Chama to Antonito. Even late in the year the train books up well in advance in all classes so I would advise reservations well in advance. I did that and my DW was ill the day we were scheduled to go but the train staff let us use our tickets another day. If you want more information you can PM me. As I write this I can't wait to go back! As I said, October is beautiful there-the "quakkies" (aspen trees) are all turning and the weather is cool. If you go late October be prepared for a freeze-it could happen.