Biked a few hundred miles across Southern New Mexico via the epic Monumental Loop and Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument.
Slot canyons cradled in the gnarled arms of gigantic junipers. Broad grasslands dotted with neon ocotillo and towering yucca. The gravel was jagged at best and so much fun, frequently devolving into muddy riverbeds.
Picturesque cowboy clouds like an old oil painting. Then blistering chile roasts in Hatch before the most difficult stretch of the entire route, the infamous White Gap hike-a-bike ascent. I gave up counting the dozens, maybe hundreds of goat’s head puncturevine and mesquite thorns clinging to my tires. SIX diamondback rattlesnake sightings in just three days, like tangled lassos thrashing in the heat.
There’s a mile-wide volcanic crater named Kilbourne Hole where Apollo Mission astronauts trained for lunar landings in the 1960s. Marbled sunsets turned the ground bright red and made cacti glow from the inside like glossy Christmas ornaments.
I thought about the ancestral Apache tribes who nurtured these lands before the need for federal sanctity, and how closely our bike tracks might mirror the jaguars and mountain lions that roamed before us. Excellent route and highly recommend if you can pack enough water!
by donivanberube