Fort Stanton Fort Stanton was built in 1855 by soldiers of the 1st Dragoon and the 3rd and 8th Infantry Regiments to serve as a base of operations against the Mescalero Apache Indians. It was established to protect Hispano and White settlements along the Rio Bonito in the Apache Wars. Kit Carson, John “Black Jack” …
Another day another ride! Today we rode roughly 6.9 miles with 2444′ of climbing on the Cedar Creek Trails in Ruidoso, mostly different ones from the other day. This time we rode further into the system to add on a loop up Perk Canyon and down Perk Ridge. The split of Jerryatrics Trail onto Raven’s …
Most years racers flock to this area for the Wild West Fest. It was canceled in 2020 but is set to take place in 2021. We took a morning to ride the trails out at Grindstone Lake where part of the race takes place usually. Our ride was 19.4 miles with 2096′ of climbing. Starting …
Derek and I aren’t sure how we originally found out about Ruidoso, New Mexico but here we are. The village is in the Sierra Blanca mountain range and sits at 6920’. The town is named after Rio Ruidoso, a small stream nearby that means noisy river. Our boondocking spot is solitary and quiet, although today …
There are countless backcountry loops possible around the Jemez Mtns. One of our first rides in the Los Alamos area was at Valles Caldera National Preserve and you can read about that here. We returned for a ride in a different area of the preserve at it too was awesome. Our loop was 28.5 miles …
From our boondocking site we can see the top of Pajarito Ski Area. Derek created a mountain bike loop that took us up to the top, around the mountain and back down. It was 14.3 miles but had a heart stopping 3206′ of climbing. That’s a lot for such little mileage. The ride started up …
East Fork Trail between Los Alamos and Jemez Springs is pretty popular in certain sections so we picked midweek to have more solitude. Even then, we passed a handful of hikers. I can’t imagine how busy it gets on a weekend! We rode this trail pretty much as an out and back making it 17.7 …
This is a recommended route on MTB Project and I get why. I think it may be one of the top rides we’ve done in the past few months. It is hard. Our day was 21 miles with 3517′ of climbing. It is hard. I think I mentioned that. We started with a climb up …
Our planned ride for the day was a bust. We couldn’t find a connecting trail through an overgrown mountainside with downed trees EVERYWHERE. Back at the car and 7.5 miles with 1000′ of climbing in, we decided to try some trails in one of the canyons above Los Alamos. So, we tacked on another 13 …
Today we rode a big loop out at Valles Caldera National Preserve. Valles Caldera is a volcanic crater that lies atop a dormant supervolcano. The caldera is one of the largest calderas on earth at 13.7 miles in diameter and formed about 1 million years ago when multiple eruptions occurred. A caldera eruption differs from …