Horsethief Mesa and John Dunn Bridge
The Horsetheif Mesa singletrack by Taos is outstanding. We put together a loop there and added an out and back down to the Rio Grande John Dunn Bridge for a total of 24 miles with 1857’ of climbing. The area is at elevations of 6500 to 7200’ so while the scrub brush, sage, juniper and pinyon pine make you feel like you’re much lower, it’s still high. We even came across some bighorn sheep up close and personal. So cool looking!
Horsethief Mesa is rated as intermediate and that seemed appropriate. The singletrack is fast hammering in some places and then loose rock switchbacks down into canyons and back out. Rocky overlooks are a theme on this ride and there is a lot of interesting topography and geology. Oh, and the views of the Rio Grande are amazing as usual.
At one point on the ride you can see a bridge way down on the Rio Grande so we decided to check it out. The John Dunn Bridge is where the Rio Hondo flows into the Rio Grande. We rode down to the recreation area and wow, what a gem! The bridge was built in 1908 by John Dunn to transport travelers and mail to Taos. From here we rode back up to the singletrack and finished our loop.
There is a proposal to add new singletrack to the trail system. I read through the documents on the Bureau of Land Management website and submitted comments. Fun place.
Enchanted Forest Hike
Red River has a cross country ski area that is open for hiking and mountain biking in the summer and we did a day hike on the trails. Our hike was around 6 miles through the forest to a few viewpoints. There aren’t any huge climbs which made this perfect for a recovery day. The entire hike was rolling hills on tight trail through the forest. Along the way we passed a few yurts that are available for rental. At the far end of our loop we were treated to Wheeler Peak views. Again, no people.
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