SR 126 on the west side leads to the lower Nacimiento Mountains, including San Pedro Parks Wilderness. This is a fine hiking/backpacking area that's well worth investigating if your hikes in the Jemez have left you wanting more.
For "friendlier" pueblos than Jemez, return to the east side and the Española Valley, where all manner of Native American pueblos await, several of them excellent for arts and crafts. You can also continue west beyond Jemez Pueblo to US 550, then southeast to Zia Pueblo on the way to Albuquerque. Zia pottery is particularly fine and better value for dollar than the work of some of the other tribes and can be obtained at a small cultural center at the pueblo.
Routes out of the mountains on the north side lead to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, man-made El Vado and Heron Lakes fishing, camping, small boating, and the red-rock country of north central New Mexico.
