Facebook Instagram Twitter Flickr

Beer Bikes and Campfires .com

Craft Beer, Mountain Bikes, Camping and all the good things in life
Home  >  Mountain Biking • New Mexico  >  Cloudcroft, NM
Mountain BikingNew Mexico

Cloudcroft, NM

Derek Posted onOctober 1, 2020October 1, 2020 Cloudcroft, Mountain Biking, New Mexico Leave a Comment 3402 Views

After a couple weeks in Ruidoso, we moved down the highway to Cloudcroft, NM. Our boondocking spot is around 8800′ in the trees. Luckily, it’s still warm in the days and decent at night, though fall is definitely here. Our first ride was on what the locals call the High Altitude Race Course and then we added on a loop of Bailey Canyon to see the Trestles in Mexican Canyon. Our ride was around 19 miles with 2211′ of climbing. For some reason Ride with GPS has a real difficult problem maintaining a gps signal everywhere we have been in New Mexico so where we might zig and zag on trails, it sometimes just draws a straight line. Oh well.

From camp we started down the canyon and turned left onto the Bailey Canyon Trail. This part was all downhill into the canyon through meadows and forest. At the end we turned left and headed up the sustained climb on forest road 206C. It didn’t last very long and then we turned right on some singletrack. I liked this section as it was rocky and swoopy through the forest. When we reached town we altered from the race course and instead, went to see the Mexican Canyon Trestle.

In 1899 the rail line was build to open up logging areas in the Sacramento Mts above Alamogordo. The new railroad wound around steep mountain slopes for 32 miles supported by 58 major timber trestles. The Mexican Canyon Trestle is 323 feet long and the height of a six story building. The line rose to an elevation of 8700′, the highest altitude in the world at that time. It was very dangerous. Engines often ran wild down the steep grades, jumping tracks and plunging into the canyon below. The line also carried passengers to the resort town of Cloudcroft. Hell no, after seeing some of the trestles and pictures of how it looked back then, I would never ride it.

The added on Rail to Trail loop we rode was beautiful. In some sections it goes through a nice shady tree covered area and at other times you’re high up on the side of the mountain in full sun. Sometimes it’s a wider gravel trail and sometimes it’s singletrack. Of course we saw nobody. My only gripe was I had to carry my bike up three flights of stairs to get up to the pedestrian bridge that crosses above the highway. Poor me.

After completing the trestle loop, we rode back through town to catch the singletrack up and over to the start. This section winds past a neighborhood and then over the ridge on a rocky trail that dumps back into the start. We were startled by a herd of elk, wild horses and some turkeys.

Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
Cloudcroft Trestle trails
DSC01627
DSC01626
Previous Article Historic Lincoln, NM
Next Article Rim Trail, Cloudcroft

About Author

Derek

Related Posts

  • Mormon Lake Hiking and Riding

    September 24, 2023
  • Arizona Trail to Grand Canyon Ride

    September 15, 2023
  • Rainbow Rim Trail, Grand Canyon

    September 11, 2023

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Tag Cloud

Arizona Arizona Trail Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Beer Big Bend National Park Big Bend Ranch State Park Butte Cache National Forest California Capitol Reef National Park Caribou-Targhee National Forest Colorado Continental Divide Trail Crater Lake Crested Butte Death Valley National Park Del Norte Durango Gila National Forest Gold Butte National Monument Gold Canyon Gravel biking hiking History Idaho Joshua Tree National Park Lake Logan Los Alamos Mancos Montana Mountain Biking Nevada New Mexico Oregon Road Riding Salida Sedona Silver City Taos Telluride Texas Tucson Utah Wyoming

Our current whereabouts.

Categories

  • Arizona
  • Beer
  • California
  • Camp trip
  • Colorado
  • Gear
    • Solar
  • Getting Ready To Go
  • Gravel Riding
  • Hiking
  • Idaho
  • Mexico
  • Montana
  • Mountain Biking
  • Nevada
    • Death Valley National Park
  • New Mexico
  • Oregon
  • Paddleboarding
  • Road riding
  • Texas
  • Uncategorized
  • Utah
  • Wyoming

Popular Posts

  • Arizona Trail Kaibab Plateau North September 8, 2023
  • Navajo National Monument September 4, 2023
  • Lees Ferry Stopover September 22, 2023
  • Rainbow Rim Trail, Grand Canyon September 11, 2023

Recent Comments

  • Sally on Lees Ferry Stopover
  • Sand Canyon Hike - Beer Bikes and Campfires .com on Sand Canyon and McPhee Overlook Trails
  • Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico - Beer Bikes and Campfires .com on Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos
  • Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico - Beer Bikes and Campfires .com on Live it up
  • Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico - Beer Bikes and Campfires .com on Tsankawi Prehistoric Sites & Los Alamos

Archives

  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • September 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
Facebook Twitter Instagram Flickr

Photo Gallery

Indian Bread Rocks
Bumble Bee
Horse Gulch
Contrabando Trails
Devils Garden
20220817-PXL_20220817_202624396
DSC00277
Box Canyon
West Mancos Trail
Pleasant Canyon
DSC07093
20210620-P1010885

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© Copyright 2014. Theme by BloomPixel.