The Rio Costillo valley is a remote part of Northern New Mexico. We rode a lollipop route that was 35 miles with 2300’ of climbing. The riding was on gravel roads and doubletrack through a ginormous valley. The valley is a 101,000 acre mountain basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This pristine wilderness was …
Back in El Paso we saw the Rio Grande, then we paddled it in Big Bend State Park and Big Bend National Park, and now we saw it here in Northern New Mexico as well. Our Vistas de Questa ride was 27 miles with 2317′ of climbing. Questa is a small village down the highway …
In December 2014 the Wheeler Peak Wilderness boundary was redrawn and now this loop is legal to ride. Good thing, because it was amazing. Our loop was 14.4 miles with 2398’ climbing. It is tough rewarding riding that tops out at 11,553’. This is high alpine mountain biking with views of the Sangre de Cristo …
Wanting to get another big loop done while the weather forecast was good, we rode Greenie Peak Loop from camp. Greenie Peak Loop was a big gravel/dirt loop of 27.7 miles with 4408’ of climbing. We topped out at 11,141’ with views of surrounding peaks. We started by riding up to Sawmill Pass on a …
After four months in Colorado we finally left and are in Red River, NM. Our boondocking spot took some work to get level but we have a nice spot in the forest with trees and a meadow to look out on. We are up at 9000’ so it’s cool at night and warm in the …
Our initial plan to hike up to Como Lake were foiled by heavy looking dark grey, almost black clouds that hovered around Blanca Peak. So, we decided to hike around Great Sand Dunes National Park for a couple hours. I am quite possibly the most paranoid person when it comes to the pandemic. Basically, I …
While in the area, we decided to ride Medano Pass Primitive Road. This road is passable only in the warmer months with a high clearance 4X4 vehicle, crosses areas of deep sand and traverses Medano Creek nine times. We rode it on our mountain bikes and it was awesome. Our out and back was 23.4 …
We finally left Salida and are hanging out by Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. With thunderstorms forecast for early in the day, we decided to do a quickish hike in the area. Mosca Pass Trail starts just inside the park headquarters and except for 2 other people, we had the entire hike to …
It seems a few days of riding slipped through over the past week without us doing a post so here they are. Cottonwood Loop Just on the other side of the river from downtown Salida is a tremendous trail network called Arkansas Hill Trail System. On two different days we rode the Big Cottonwood Loop …
For our 21st wedding anniversary we rode Monarch Crest/Fooses, made pizza for dinner, brownies for dessert, and a special beer to celebrate. What a day! Fooses is yet another trail off the Monarch Crest in Salida, CO. We rode everything else and this was the last loop we planned to ride up there. It isn’t …