Headed to Red River later this month with the family. Any recommendations on things to do, places to visit, restaurants, etc.? Our boys enjoy fishing. Any good places to take them? We also enjoy hiking and would like to know of any good trails. TIA

How old are the boys? I'm no expert but have made a couple trips.

1. Hiking - There is a trail just on the other side of town that is pretty easy, but a little boring. Mallet Park is a little more fun to explore for young kids. Plus they have a more young kid friendly playground. For old kids, closer to 8-10, Middlefork Lake is a great hike and much more exciting. Parking is limited near the trail head so get there early (or an off day) or you get an extra mile of hiking along the road from the highway. The road to Middlefork isn't the greatest, so you might choose to hike in anyway. It's a good morning if you just go to the falls and the crossing. It's a "pack a lunch" hike if you go up to the lake proper.

2. Food - There is one grocery store in town and selection is limited. If you are picky or have favorites, might want to bring it. The biggest is the brewery. Get on the waiting list online before heading over. The best food is Brett's. T-bucks is the best breakfast. Not everyone is open every day and staffing is a problem in the post Covid era.

3. Fishing - I'm no help there.

For hiking, check out Middle Fork Lake outside Taos Ski Valley.

Texas Red's for dinner. Shotgun willies for breakfast. Take the ski lift up, drink a beer and hike down.

Rent a side by side and go up to greenie peak. Your boys will effing love that.

Get wasted at the Mother Lode. Do "cowboy dinner" up at Bobcat Pass.

Go tent camping around midnight meadows. I can give you an absolutely amazing spot (even has a wooden table that we constructed there 10 years ago).

Sorry, I was mistaken...we are staying in Angel Fire but Red River isn't too far down the road.

Suggestions for Angel Fire?

Uh lol. Big difference.

I don't feel like there's much to do in Angelfire. Head over to red river or Taos.

Motherload Saloon!

Angel Fire hikes:

https://www.angelfireresort.com/activities/summer-activities/hiking/

About 30-45 minutes up to Red River. Nice drive. I think Texas Red is worth it. I used to drive from Cimarron for it.

Drove 64 a few months ago from Cimarron to Taos. Between Cimarron and Ute Park is burned, but beautiful towards Eagles Nest. Up to Red River is nice.

Fishing you have the eagle nest lake close by

There's a pond near the golf course where you can rent paddle boats and do some fishing. We used Angel Fire for a jumping off point for day trips to Taos and Red River. Not much to do in Angel Fire. After the first year, we started staying in Red River. In Red River, check out the activities at the community house. Some nice hikes on the Cimarron River in the national forest. Fishing the ponds in Questa is good and easy for the kid too.

Eagle Nest Lake is very near Angel Fire and is good fishing. We caught trout from the shore, and the lake has northern pike.

Take your kids mountain tubing in RR, tons of fun.

Chairlift served downhill mountain biking at AngelFire is a blast if your boys are old enough for it. They are consistently rated as one of the top places in all of the Southwest for it.

How is Red River around Thanksgiving? We aren't interested in skiing just enjoying some cooler temps.

Red River is great at Thanksgiving. If your not interested in snow, its more miss than hit at that time but you definitely can have snow then. But for the most part, your going to have cool temperatures that will be comfortable outdoors on sunny days, with pretty cold temps at night, but plenty to do. Go for it.

Bumping this - any other restaurants recs other than Texas Red, Bretts, Shotgun Willies and T bucks?

Capos or any of the Pizza places?

just got back from Angel Fire. really enjoyed it. skied there and Taos. our house in Angel Fire was beautiful but there wasn't really anything in the way of restaurants so we did the pizza place and the taco place up at the resort.

Our family recently really enjoy Red River Brewing. Tasty. Brought a baby and child, and the noise level wasn't an issue whatsoever.

I remember when you could drive up the switchbacks to middle fork lake. Those were the days.

Looking for a 2BR (at least) rental property in Red River, July 6-10 timeframe. If you have a place you rent out from time to time, I'd rather work directly with an Ag than pay AirBnB fees. Thanks.

Ttt for trip planning

milner79 - search for the local rental companies - M vacation rentals, Reservations Unlimited, RR Mountain Peak, Red River Vacation Rentals etc. I found a lot of property managers double list their rentals on their own site and then on the short term rental sites, but you just pay the markup going through VRBO/AirBNB. A property I am looking at for next year is $1200 less going through the rental company direct, the cancellation policy is more strict however.