New Mexico Off-Road Trails

Some of the finest mountain scenery in the southwest is found in the 1.6-million-acre Santa Fe National Forest, and wheeling on Lake Fork Canyon is a great way to enjoy it. Tall ponderosa pines, aspens, scrub oak, and grassy meadows frame a scenic Jemez Mountain trail that is one of New Mexico's outdoor treasures. As the trail starts out at the historic Gilman Tunnels, the Rio Guadalupe runs alongside the east side of the trail and offers trout fishing adjacent to numerous parking turnouts and picnicking sites. As the trail runs through Lake Fork Canyon in the north, the Rio Cebolla runs along its east side. The Jemez Mountains are very important to the Native American people of the Jemez Pueblo. The Walatowa Visitor Center located near Jemez Pueblo on State Highway 4 is a great way to learn about the rich culture of the area.

Apache has many different surfaces and conditions across its nearly 44 miles, traveling through the Rio Grande and Carson National Forests along the edge of the Cruces Basin Wilderness. The trail is easy and well-maintained for roughly 25 miles from Highway 285 to the Lagunitas Creek Fishing area. After that point, the trail roughens considerably with rockier surfaces, areas of ruts, and even a large mud pit at roughly mile 29. See the Hardest Part photo. Trail conditions vary from the Lagunitas Creek Fishing area to the Colorado state line, where FR87 becomes FR117 and returns to a well-maintained dirt road.

Dispersed camping is plentiful along this trail, with most campsites being large enough for multiple vehicles. This area is popular among hunters in the Fall. Do not be surprised to see camper trailers, SxSs, and ATVs during this time. The trail on the Colorado side (FR117) is a seasonal road open 05/17-02/29. It is closed in the spring for elk calving season.

On the Highway 285 side, your nearest services are the tiny town of Tres Piedras with the Tres Piedras Ranger Station, post office, and Chili Line Depot restaurant, but no fuel station. At the northern end, travel east on Highway 17 to Horca, CO, and visit the Red Bear Haus for a general store, food and beer, and other services. Overall, your nearest fuel is Antonito, CO, or Chama, NM.

Silver Spring, FR162, is a dirt road that winds through Lincoln Nation Forest near the small mountain town of Cloudcroft. The west portion is just over 6,600 feet in elevation and is primarily a graded gravel road with great views of the desert and valleys below. There are a couple of camping spots in this section.

The forest becomes denser in the central and eastern portions, with more opportunities for camping. The trail gains elevation towards the east end, peaking at over 8,700 feet. 

There are no significant obstacles other than the possibility of snow or mud, depending on the season. Several other trails connect to FR 162, including a fire tower overlook on the east side. If camping, there are parcels of private land with signage dotted along this trail. 

Camping spot on the west side: (32.97571, -105.82628)

Wheeling in the arroyos of the Quebradas near Socorro, New Mexico is as interesting as it is scenic, and it's always different. With powerful flash floods, each rain reconfigures these arid waterways, such that millions of years of geological history lay exposed all around. Just off of the Quebradas Back Country Byway, Lower Amado runs through a canyon, offering a great assortment of challenges and optional lines to try as it traverses sand, boulders, pilings of sedimentary rock, and intimidating vertical rock escarpments. Though it reaches a high-end rating of 10 (extreme), the first 2/3 of the trail can be completed in a lightly modified 4x4. The rock hounds in your group will be enthralled by the many geological features of this area, and marine fossils abound for those with an eye for spotting them. Maybe best of all, this trail has enough variety that even the most hardcore rock crawlers in your squad will not be bored!

Over a million years ago, a volcano in present-day New Mexico erupted with a force over 300 times the 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption. Ash fell as far away as present-day Utah. The eruption resulted in a huge caldera, the sunken center of a volcano. Humans since the Paleolithic period have valued this unique high-elevation area of cinder cones and massive prairies. The Ancestral Puebloans referred to the area as the Bear's Paw based on the arrangement of the cinder cones and valleys.

Established in 2000, Valles Caldera National Preserve protects this 88,900-acre unique ecosystem. Visitors are welcome to the front portion of the Preserve in Valle Grande. Most visitors enjoy viewing large elk herds from the many pullouts along Highway 4. New Mexico's elk were hunted out. Imported Rocky Mountain elk now thrive in the Preserve. A mile beyond the visitor center, the cabin area includes ranch houses and hunting lodges from the land's previous users. One cabin was used in the Longmire TV series. Though the program was supposedly set in Wyoming, the rustic cabin and forever views of Valles Caldera were used as Sherrif Walt Longmire.

A limited number of daily backcountry permits available through Recreation.gov allow driving into the stunning backcountry of the preserve. Anglers snag most permits hoping to outwit a wily Longnosedace in San Antonio Creek or the other beautiful brooks winding through open alpine meadows. The easy dirt road winds north through hills dotted with Gunnisson's prairie dog towns and across meadows full of Rocky Mountain Iris. In the far north of the Preserve, the road forks going west to Valle San Antonio and eastward to Valle Toledo. The San Antonio cabin evokes an idyllic cowboy lifestyle. Old ranch roads are closed and are now used as hiking trails to get even deeper into this fantastic landscape.

Camping is not allowed in the Preserve. Jemez Falls Campground is popular and close by. Dispersed camping is permitted along nearby FR 287 in the Santa Fe National Forest.

Three Mile Canyon, FR 228, runs 10 miles through the Sacramento Mountains.  It is a straight-through trail that connects US Highway 82 with Carr Gap Canyon, FR607. 

Most of the southern portion is in a wooded forest, while the northeastern end is rolling hills and valleys. Three Mile Canyon is an ungraded dirt road that may have deep mud holes and ruts with no bypass after significant rain or snow. Cattle freely roam throughout the area with multiple unlocked gates. 

There are several spur trails and roads to explore and plentiful dispersed campsites.