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I thought NM's summers would not be that bad for hiking. I don't mind desert heat as long as it doesn't go to AZ temperatures all the time to the point where it's dangerous. NM is supposed to be cooler than AZ and has cold winters.
I am an IT major in college. I don't I am going to make a lot of money in IT. I think I would at least make 50K.
I am like you, like the low density of smaller metro areas. You have access to nice scenery and less traffic congestion. I don't mind working in a city, but I would not want to live in a city. But from what people said, ABQ is a small metro area and it seems suburban.
Have you pretty much decided on ABQ, then? I've known techies in Santa Fe who worked for stock brokerages in town, the community college, and think tanks around town (Santa Fe Institute, among others). All good gigs, people said. I don't know how much they pay, but people were happy with those employers. Here in SF, there's also the state gov't to check for jobs, and St. John's College. Just throwing some ideas out in your direction.
I wouldn't call ABQ "small", and IDK about suburban. Compared to NYC, anything seems suburban, but there are freeways and traffic. I avoid ABQ as much as possible, but....suit yourself.
I think the summer heat in northern New Mexico tends to top out in the 90s with a few days hitting 100 in June. The hottest temp on record in Albuquerque is 107 a few years back. That's a car cry from the Arizona heat and with low humidity it is less noticable. The thing about hiking is staying hydrated. People don't sweat here like back east -- it evaporates. The sun will get you too if you are not prepared. There were some French tourists that died while hiking at White Sands a couple years ago with one bottle of water. I have friends that do a lot of mountain biking pretty much all year without problems. You have to be aware and self-sufficient because there might not be someone coming along to help.
Those vacant roads you see are just bulldozed tracks through the desert. It makes for some good ATV or bike trails and I see folks on horseback heading out on trail rides.
You need to visit when you have time to explore. All of these towns have their charms. I live about 15 miles north of Albuquerque and about 39 miles south of Santa Fe. That's as close as I want to be, but I can be in either place in around 45 minutes. I'm retired so I don't have to deal with commuter traffic.
I thought NM's summers would not be that bad for hiking. I don't mind desert heat as long as it doesn't go to AZ temperatures all the time to the point where it's dangerous. NM is supposed to be cooler than AZ and has cold winters.
Don't forget northern AZ around Flagstaff is cooler in summer and winter with more snow than most towns in NM. Have you ever been out west? Outside New Jersey? You should visit before making any decision.
I think the summer heat in northern New Mexico tends to top out in the 90s with a few days hitting 100 in June. The hottest temp on record in Albuquerque is 107 a few years back. That's a car cry from the Arizona heat and with low humidity it is less noticable. The thing about hiking is staying hydrated. People don't sweat here like back east -- it evaporates. The sun will get you too if you are not prepared. There were some French tourists that died while hiking at White Sands a couple years ago with one bottle of water. I have friends that do a lot of mountain biking pretty much all year without problems. You have to be aware and self-sufficient because there might not be someone coming along to help.
Those vacant roads you see are just bulldozed tracks through the desert. It makes for some good ATV or bike trails and I see folks on horseback heading out on trail rides.
You need to visit when you have time to explore. All of these towns have their charms. I live about 15 miles north of Albuquerque and about 39 miles south of Santa Fe. That's as close as I want to be, but I can be in either place in around 45 minutes. I'm retired so I don't have to deal with commuter traffic.
I did the same thing stupidly last year, in April, hiking up the Organs to Organ Needle. When urban search and rescue retrieved me they told me I should have had six liters of water, at minimum for that hike.
OP: hiking here is not like hiking up the Delaware Water Gap. In fact, living in both New Jersey (most of my life) and now here, there are almost no similarities between the two places. But since you are young, now is more likely the time to consider such a dramatic relocation. There are so many differences between the northeast United States and the rest of the country, culturally, that I could probably write a thesis dissertation about it, but it would glass the eyes of almost everyone in this forum.
Northern New Mexico (north of Socorro) heat is not that bad in the summer. It's dry heat and it's mostly manageable. Plus you can always go out hiking in mornings and afternoons.
Of course NM is excellent for outdoor activities! In fact in my life the most amount of time I have dedicated to outdoors stuff was in NM. Arguably it's even better than other states because it has a longer season. You can still be out hiking and camping in the high country in October or even November pretty comfortably.
When we lived in Santa Fe, the trails are so conveniently close that I was out there almost every day. I'd also go fly-fishing several times each week on Pecos river which was not a far drive. You can be up in old-growth pine forests at 9,000+ feet with only a 10 minute drive from downtown.
In my opinion NM scenery is even more gorgeous than AZ or UT.
For a place to live, Albuquerque I suppose could be okay, but there's other choices as well. Los Alamos is a nice town, very scenic, very close to a lot of outdoors stuff, and lots of computer jobs. Santa Fe is another choice. Or living on the east side of the Sandias and commuting to Albq for work.
Outside ABQ, it's pretty much all small towns and wide open spaces. Easily accessible and plentiful outdoors things to do include: skiing, backpacking, rafting, fishing, hunting, seeing old Indian ruins.
FYI as far as water, it's not only the water that you need but also the electrolytes.
Don't forget northern AZ around Flagstaff is cooler in summer and winter with more snow than most towns in NM. Have you ever been out west? Outside New Jersey? You should visit before making any decision.
I've been out West in AZ for a road trip, but I was in middle school and I didn't comprehend it much. This was like in the summer between 6th grade and 7th grade probably. Places I have traveled out West are California, Seattle area, and AZ. I remember we did visit Sedona definitely. They had fireplaces in the hotels. My brother said, from his memory, he remembers that AZ was in the 100s during the trip. It didn't feel extremely brutal to me. From my memory, I remember seeing highway signs for Flagstaff and Phoenix, so I assume we passed through the two areas, except we did not go into the cities themselves.
Northern New Mexico (north of Socorro) heat is not that bad in the summer. It's dry heat and it's mostly manageable. Plus you can always go out hiking in mornings and afternoons.
Of course NM is excellent for outdoor activities! In fact in my life the most amount of time I have dedicated to outdoors stuff was in NM. Arguably it's even better than other states because it has a longer season. You can still be out hiking and camping in the high country in October or even November pretty comfortably.
When we lived in Santa Fe, the trails are so conveniently close that I was out there almost every day. I'd also go fly-fishing several times each week on Pecos river which was not a far drive. You can be up in old-growth pine forests at 9,000+ feet with only a 10 minute drive from downtown.
In my opinion NM scenery is even more gorgeous than AZ or UT.
For a place to live, Albuquerque I suppose could be okay, but there's other choices as well. Los Alamos is a nice town, very scenic, very close to a lot of outdoors stuff, and lots of computer jobs. Santa Fe is another choice. Or living on the east side of the Sandias and commuting to Albq for work.
Outside ABQ, it's pretty much all small towns and wide open spaces. Easily accessible and plentiful outdoors things to do include: skiing, backpacking, rafting, fishing, hunting, seeing old Indian ruins.
FYI as far as water, it's not only the water that you need but also the electrolytes.
I have seen timelapse driving videos of NM. In my opinion, I think AZ and UT beat NM (You said the opposite), but remember, I have not visited NM in real life. NM has its dramatic scenery from rolling hills, mountains, general desert scenery, and has a bit more greenery than AZ, but NM lacks the variety of colorfulness that AZ has a lot of. The outdoor activities in NM sound pretty good to me.
I have seen timelapse driving videos of NM. In my opinion, I think AZ and UT beat NM (You said the opposite), but remember, I have not visited NM in real life. NM has its dramatic scenery from rolling hills, mountains, general desert scenery, and has a bit more greenery than AZ, but NM lacks the variety of colorfulness that AZ has a lot of. The outdoor activities in NM sound pretty good to me.
Arizona and Utah are much more varied in what they offer in terms of terrain and vegetation than New Mexico. For instance Arizona has the saguaro cactus. NM doesn't. NM doesn't have any place that is as green as the area around Flagstaff with the towering Ponderosa Pines. Obviously nothing as spectacular as the grand canyon. Utah has southern Utah which is drastically different than Northern Utah.
NM is truly beautiful as well. Just toned down a bit. It's mountains aren't quite as spectacular and it's deserts aren't quite as interesting and a lot of the eastern part is just plain old plains. What is great about NM in my opinion is that it is pretty enough but the state's weather on an annual basis can't be beat. You want warm in the winter, head to southern New Mexico. You want cold in the winter. Head to Northern New Mexico. You want both. Live in Alamogordo and zip up to Cloudcroft or Ruidoso and have all the snow you want.
Albuquerque is a neat town of about a million. Sante Fe is now an elite town that regularly entertains a who's who from all over America. Taos is an ancient town that attracts artists and archeologists alike. Los Alamos has more six figure jobs per capita than just about any town in the country. Silver City is nestled in the mountains of SW NM and has almost a perfect year round climate.
And the best part is that NM still isn't ruined and overrun with transplants. It still has some of that sleepy New Mexico feeling that Arizona used to have but has now lost due to growth.
At your age, I'd move to Albuquerque after you graduate and take some grad classes at UNM. Mid 20s in Albuquerque would be great fun.
but NM lacks the variety of colorfulness that AZ has a lot of.
Northern New Mexico deserts are more colorful than AZ, in my opinion. In any case, regarding weather one thing that should be noted is that every year is different. Some years are very dry like the past couple of years where practially no snowfall has happened; other years have a lot of snow. Some winters are mild, while others are extremely cold (my mom a couple years ago was saying they were below -20F in Albuquerque; she said they got to -40F a couple times in the mountains where she grew up).
But in general, it's more mild than surrounding states, which means you can be outdoors more often. One thing I don't like about Colorado is the short backpacking season.
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