Rio Grande Nature Ctr

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

This nature park in the middle of the city provides a convenient and welcome refuge.. The Scene
The Rio Grande bosque, a cottonwood forest stretching for 92 miles along the Rio Grande, bisects Albuquerque and provides folks with a quick escape from city life. The Rio Grande State Park contains a 25-mile segment of the forest offering excellent dirt and paved trails for hiking, biking, blading and horseback riding. Most of the bosque is accessible 24 hours a day.

The Best
At the heart of the park lies the Rio Grande Nature Center, a semi-subterranean exhibit hall and the gateway to 270 acres of forest, meadow and marsh. Visitors can spot the occasional raccoon, beaver, turtle, frog, rabbit or coyote and more than 260 species of birds. It's a great place to pretend you're not stuck in the middle of the desert.

The Rest
A brief word of warning: Bike police and state park rangers routinely patrol the park, but exhibitionists occasionally pop up along the trails.