The other day we visited the Rio Bravo open space. How to get there: The best way to get there is on I-25 south to the Rio Bravo exit. Head west, miss the access road like we did, cross over the Rio Grande, turn around and come back.
The entrance is a little tricky. Once you turn north off Rio Bravo, take an immediate left; Poco Loco Frontage Road nearly doubles back, then turns into the parking lot for the open space area.
(I love the name of that road: “Poco Loco” translates to “a bit crazy.”)
We drove through the neighborhood east of the park. It looked like the kind of place where people have lived for a while and know their neighbors, stable and quiet. There were lots of fenced yards with dogs lazing in the sun, barely (if even) lifting their heads to watch us slowly drive by. One house on the north end of the neighborhood had a corral with several lamas heading over to the gate, waiting for feed to be unloaded from the truck.
The Rio Bravo Open Space is a nice picnic area under tall cottonwoods, and even though there aren’t any leaves on the trees yet, it’s a quiet area full of promise of shade in the summer. The trail loops around the park area, and we discovered that there are other lesser dirt trails that wind all through the bosque along the river, so you can certainly walk for more than just the .3 mile loop. As always, we could hear the songs of birds, different than those in Old Town.
There was another sign at the entrance to the park area that we found amusing. It said to stay out from under the trees during high winds. Cottonwood trees are somewhat brittle and large branches break off during windstorms.
For more walking routes in City of Albuquerque parks and open space areas, visit the Albuquerque Prescription Trails Project.
