Has anyone camped near Taos? The area felt negative and threatening, but I can’t explain why.

In 2018 myself and a friend were road-tripping through New Mexico and had been camping and sightseeing. At the end of our trip we visited Taos and Arroyo Seco, heading to Capulin campground. We had friends who stayed there and had great things to say about it. We pulled in and all of the campsites were empty, except one where everything had been left out on the table: plates, kettle, flashlight, etc and the tents were up and open. There was a pickup there but no one around. It was weird, but we figured the campers were out and would be back. We had heard there was a nice hiking trail and a spring, so we looked around and found a trail at the end of the road. We assumed that was the trail and decided to go for a walk. The trail didn’t seem maintained and the further we got, the smaller it got, branches were closing in and there were dead trees laying across the path. It started to seem like the trees had been put there on purpose and the atmosphere began to feel really unsettling so we decided to turn around. We got back to the campground and were thinking about unloading and setting up camp.

A car of rowdy young men pulled in and started driving down the road. One of the boys who had a machete was walking along next to the car and he walked through the middle of our campsite, just a couple feet away from us, without acknowledging us. They pulled into the site at the end of the road and were talking to each other loudly and aggressively. They pulled out a bunch of beer and went down the trail with no gear or anything. Everything felt off, the sun started setting and we decided to have dinner. It was getting dark and the boys were still in the woods and the campers who’d left everything out had not returned. As we were talking we both realized that we felt equally unsettled. I told my friend that I couldn’t see myself sleeping there and was planning on waiting for morning in the car but would help him set up. He agreed that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep either and asked if I just wanted to head back home.

There was such a huge sense of relief when we pulled out into the main road and as we got further away, it’s like the heaviness lightened tremendously.

High strangeness in New Mexico