Nature Pointe to Campo Rd

Nature Pointe to Campo Rd.
I do not recommend riding from the Nature Pointe Trailhead. The trail from the neighborhood is faint, overgrown and indistinct until it meets with an unnamed trail that roughly parallels the Lower Pine Trail which can be seen on the other side of the canyon. I recommend starting at Campo and continuing south towards the Lower Pine/Pinyon Trail.

View to the west

Cibola Nat Forest from Nature Pointe

Campo is near the Lower Pine Trailhead

Cryptic Campo "Trailhead" is completely unmarked

Ride from Nature Pointe

Overview of area - this trail's not on the map

If I'd gone south, I bet the trail intersects with Lower Pine here (blue and brown trails above)

Tecolote, Oso Corredor, and Elena Gallegos

Tecolote Trail

Tecolote is (mostly) awesome. The views are exceptional, especially this time of year. Click on the link above for the mountainbike-legal trails in the Sandias, including Tecolote. The Aspens are changing this time of year, as seen from Tecolote. Only deficit is that it is a short ride. It is still worth it.

Tecolote Trailhead starts at Dry Camp. Free Parking

Autumn in the Sandias (did you know they don't say "fall" in Auckland and Sydney?)

Perfect fall day

An old mine along the trail

Twin peaks of Manzano Mountains to the South

Sangre de Cristos on horizon

View towards the Ski area

Oso Corredor

Accessed from Tree Spring Trail

Running Bear Trail

Oso Corredor has some very nice sections of singletrack, linking the Bill Spring/Faulty Trail and Tree Spring. It suffers from a slight problem of limestone outcrop-itis. Riding down is easier than going up...

Elena Gallegos Open Space

Night Ride

This area is accessible from Tramway at Sims Park Road. I parked on Tramway (free) and rode smooth singletrack (new to me) along Sims Park Rd a mile from Tramway up to forest trail 365. This trail might not be so exciting during the day, but for a night ride under moonlight, the frisson of danger heightens the senses. It would possible to access this area from Spain road, taking dirt singletrack parallel to the asphalt bike path, to Sims Park Rd. For that matter you could ride from Bear Canyon Arroyo or Embudito Trailhead to the Sims Park Road singletrack, making a large loop possible.

Sign at Forest trail 365

Elena Gallegos

Next morning: 1st day of Balloon Festival -Satkirin photographing the festivities

100 Rides Project - Rides so far

1. East Mountain High Nature Trail

2. Chamisoso Canyon

3. Golden Open Space

4. Mars Court

5. Chamisa Trail

6. South Foothills Trail

7. North Faulty Trail

8. Mud Spring Trail

9. Armijo Trail

10. Gutierrez Open Space

11. Rio Rancho Cartagena Road

12. Capulin Snowplay Area to 10K

13. San Pedro Creek from Golden Open Space

14. Four Hills to Manzano Open Space

15. San Antonito Open Space

15. Coyote Trail

16. Embudito Trail

17. Carnuel to Manzano Open Space

18. Longview Trail Head

19. Trail 66 to Yucca Mountain

20. Harry's Trail

21. Lower Pine Trail Head

22. Forest Park Trail

23. Three Gun Spring

24. Ojito de San Antonio Open Space

25. La Cueva - Juan Tabo Picnic Area

26. Rio Grande State Park

27. Golden Eagle Trail to Sandia Crest

28. Chamisoso to Tunnel Connector

29. Birdhouse Ridge

30. Gambel Spur Trail

31. North Pine Flat

32. Jackalope Trail

33. White Mesa

34. Gambel Oak to Deadman Trail

35. Crest of Montezuma

36. Bear Canyon Arroyo

37. San Antonito Spur

38. Tijeras Open Space

39. Quarry Area Trail

40. Piedra Lisa Arroyo 

41. Powerline Trail

42. Three Bottles Trail

43. Tres Pistolas Open Space

44. Tunnel Canyon

45. Lomas Arroyo

46. Deadman Flat

47. Copper Trailhead

48. Gutierrez Ridge

49. Cienega Horse Bypass

50. Otero Canyon

51. Ponderosa Trail - Juan Tomas Open Space

52. Sabino Canyon Open Space

53. Cedro Singletrack

54. Elena Gallegos Open Space

55. Oso Corredor

56. Tecolote Trail 

57. Nature Pointe to Campo 

58. Sandia Peak Tram 

59. Torres Trail

60. Post Canyon (Oregon)

61. Surveyor Ridge (OR)

62. Dog Canyon (OR)

63. Lewis River (Washington)

64. Delberts Trail

65. Longview East

66. Golden Trail Extension

(Astute readers will note the numbers do not match the original blog posts exactly. That is because I left out similar rides from the same trail head, e.g. at Gutierrez and Golden Open Spaces. I did not include sites where riding is not allowed, e.g. Sandia Ranger Station and Carlito Spring)

Cedro Singletrack and Sabino Open Space

Cedro Singletrack
Of the East Mountain riding areas off "North 14" (aka state road 337), I come here the least, in part because the trail used to be very rough. Its been improved recently. I recommend this trail.

Cedro singletrack takes off from the campground

Singletrack here is nicer than I remembered

Cedro goes to Meadow Ridge Trail and Meadow Singletrack which I rode on a previous day

Sabino Canyon Open Space
The Sabino area is near Cedro:

Super Scenic

You can ride on both sides of the road - two loops

Information on Sabino

 In the past, a trail led from the Open Space up the canyon, probably into private land. Now the public open space is fenced. Since the area is not big, the ride's pretty short. But it is a beautiful place to visit and the trails are excellent despite their brevity.

Jaw dropping

Humans have killed half the world's vertebrates in my lifetime.


Do something about it.


I am on the board of New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Our goal is to preserve large wilderness areas for humans and non-humans alike. Wilderness medicine folk should protect wilderness. Period.


P.S. My 100 rides in 100 days project has taught me two important facts. 1) Make time to get outdoors everyday. It is amazing, and your health depends on it. 2) As much as I love mountain biking, some places need to be preserved from bikes and especially motorbikes. I love to hike in the designated wilderness where no machines are allowed. Wildlife need this. Humans do too.

Joe Alcock
 

Otero Canyon and Ponderosa Trail

Otero Canyon

This area is why the group Friends of Otero (Foo MTB; now renamed "friends of the outdoors") was formed. I was at the public meeting when the Kirtland AFB described plans to close most of this excellent riding area. Check out Foo Mountain Bike's site.
This is a crown jewel of Albuquerque. Read this ABQ journal piece about the possible re-opening of upper Otero canyon. I hope the military withdrawal area is reopened for the sake of the land and those who want to recreate responsibly on it.

Otero near the military withdrawal area

Otero from the parking area

Juan Tomas Open Space
Starting at Oak Flat to Ponderosa Trail to Easy Picking and back to the car via Oak Flat Connector

Juan Tomas Open Space is an exceptional place to ride

Glimpse of the Sandias

Aptly named Ponderosa trail

I love this ride.

Copper Trailhead, Gutierrez Ridge, and Cienega Horse Bypass

Day 50 Gutierrez Ridge to Piñon Alto Road

New (for us) singletrack in the Gutierrez Open Space took us to the Piñon Alto Road. We explored a few nicely built spur trails that go to neighborhoods in the Cedar Crest Area. Overall, a spectacular ride.

Scott Forman (a Race Across America finisher this year) in Gutierrez Open Space

Sandy Sanborn on singletrack

Day 49 took me to the Copper Trail head for a night ride. A few night hawks glinted in my lights, no doubt gathering up a great number of night-flying desert insects. The tarantuas were spotted migrating during the day, but I did not see any this night.

Copper Trail Head

Neighborhood Tarantula

Night Ride with ABQ to the west

Day 48 Cienega Horse Bypass to Faulty Trail
Cienega is undergoing tree thinning, which sounds benign, but in the ground it is nothing but. Edward Abbey would not approve of this machine pictured below (and neither do I):

Fossil fuel belching tree destroyer

www.wrenched-themovie.com

My totem animal

Faulty trail near Armijo intersection

Loop complete at Sulphur Canyon

Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Nicole Burt and Katie Hinde (and Dunkleosteus)

Yesterday was a great day of brainstorming on the topic of evolutionary medicine with new friends at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Nikki Burt is the Fellow of Evolutionary Medicine at the museum. Katie Hinde is an assistant professor at Harvard's Dept. of Human Evolutionary Biology. By the way, the charismatic megafish in the photo is Dunkleosteus from the Devonian era.

Terrible lizard

I'll post more soon on this topic...

Tunnel Canyon, Lomas Arroyo, Deadman Flat

Day 47 Lomas Arroyo
It is possible to ride from Tramway beside the Lomas Arroyo right into the foothills open space. One downside is lots of tire puncturing thorns. But the area has its charms too. 

Compared to the Bear Canyon Arroyo, Lomas Arroyo has little singletrack

 I supplemented this ride with a hike in the no-bike's-allowed Carlito Spring Area:

Tiny succulent

View from Carlito Springs Open Space

Here is a nice video showing the springs on You Tube.

Day 46 Deadman Flat
According to older maps, this area was once a camping spot.
It still has its own, unmarked entrance. Despite the name, it is possible to ride an entire loop starting here while bypassing most of the Deadman trail.

Road to Deadman Flat

Little-used old campsite

Day 45 Tunnel Canyon
Tunnel canyon is a crown jewel in the Albuquerque mountain bike trail network. The trail is beautifully engineered and maintained, and offers exceptional views to boot.

Sandias and Storm Clouds