What do you picture when someone mentions riding in New Mexico? Desert? Rattlesnakes? Long, straight roads through the middle of nowhere? If that’s all you think New Mexico offers motorcyclists, then you should really take a closer look at Northern New Mexico.
On our 4 Day Colorado to New Mexico Adventure Ride from Leadville to Jemez Springs, NM and back we rode some great Colorado passes before crossing the New Mexico border into a landscape of rolling hills, beautiful forest service roads and amazing hot springs.
Heading south from Leadville on Hwy 24 takes you from 10,000′ in elevation down through beautiful canyons on the way to Buena Vista. Just to mix things up, we jumped off the pavement onto CR-371 to ride along the river and down through the Midland Tunnels. These tunnels were originally built by the Colorado Midland Railroad, which ran from the 1880’s through the early 20th century, carrying ore and supplies from Colorado Springs through Leadville and along to Aspen.
Leaving Buena Vista, we headed west on Hwy 306 past Cottonwood Hot Springs and up Cottonwood Pass. There is a parking area at the top of the pass that offers great views. From the top of the pass, we traveled down to Taylor Park Reservoir. This stretch of road used to be unpaved, but is now asphalt all the way. Taylor Park is a hub for a ton of great offroad riding. After a quick break here, we took CR-765 through the ghost town of Tincup and over Cumberland Pass. Cumberland Pass Road is a little rocky, but not too challenging on a dual sport bike.
Cumberland Pass heads south into the town of Pitkin, which is a great spot to stop and grab lunch. From Pitkin, we continued riding over Wuanita Pass, which is a very well maintained road that passes Wuanita Hot Springs on the way south to Hwy 50. Continuing to work our way south, we went over Los Pinos Pass. This pass goes through a mix of open and forested roads, offering some great views along the way. Los Pinos Pass Road ends at Cathedral, where we turned south on CR-7788. This is a great stretch of road that meets Hwy 149 at Slumgullion Pass. On Los Pinos Pass, we met a guy named Fabian from the east coast who was taking a few weeks to ride the entire Trans America Trail. He was heading west and said Colorado was his favorite part of the whole trail to that point.
Hwy 149 (The Silver Thread Byway) provides great riding along its entire distance from Blue Mesa Reservoir to South Fork. The stretch from Slumgullion Pass to Creede and beyond was spectacular. It had several smooth, sweeping curves and views around every corner.
We made a quick stop in Creede for gas and a snack. Creede is a very cool old mining town. We spent the last night of our ride here on the way back north and I can’t wait to come back. There is a very well-preserved mining district. The 17-mile Bachelor Loop goes through the mining district and makes for a great ride. There are several roads that branch off of Bachelor Loop that could make for a good half day or longer exploration. Downtown Creede has some great restaurants and bars, and the underground fire station is worth a visit as well.
Continuing on to South Fork, we stopped for dinner before heading a few miles west and catching CR-380 south toward Stunner Pass. I had never been on this road before and it is probably one of the best dual sport roads in Colorado. They named the pass correctly…the views were stunning. The road was also a fun road with several switchbacks and sweepers. The view before sunset at Lake De Nolda was fantastic!
We spent our first night in the small mining camp of Platoro. Platoro got its name from the Spanish words plata (silver) and oro (gold). This area was mined from the 1880s until about 1919, and now it serves as a hub for outdoor recreation including fishing, hiking, horseback riding and OHV riding. It’s pretty remote, with the closest paved roads about 30 miles in either direction. Platoro Reservoir is just above the village at an elevation of about 10,000′. CR-250 follows the Conejos River out of Platoro and toward Horca. This is another great dual sport road that is well maintained with great views. Leaving Horca, we traveled south on Hwy 17 over La Manga Pass. We got to see the Cumbres and Toltec train coming around the corner just north of the New Mexico border.
Highway 17 from the New Mexico border to Chama, NM was fantastic. We decided to stay on the pavement for a while to cover more ground. We rode south to Abiquiu, NM where we stopped for lunch and got to hang out with several other riders. Here we met Upe from Lubbock, TX via Switzerland on his beautifully restored 1974 BMW R90S.
After lunch, we dropped down out of the mountains taking Hwy 285 to Espanola, and Hwy 30 west to Los Alamos. The temperature got up to 97 degrees in Espanola, so we were grateful to start climbing again heading west of Los Alamos. Hwy 4 out of Los Alamos was a great ride, and before too long the temperature got down into the lower 60’s and we were racing to stay ahead of the rain coming into La Cueva, NM where we were staying for the night.
After getting checked in and unpacked, we rode just down the road to FSR-376 that leads to San Antonio Hot Springs. The road ends about 0.7 miles before the hot springs, so we hiked the rest of the way. The hot springs were well worth the trip. There were several pools cascading down the hillside. We soaked for a couple hours and met several people, mostly from the area around Los Alamos.
Heading out from La Cueva to Cuba, NM along Hwy 126 was a great ride. This unpaved road wound along creeks and past campgrounds and great scenery. From Cuba we headed north on Hwy 96 until we branched off on Hwy 112, which was a fast unpaved road up to El Vado Reservoir and onward to Hwy 64 back up to Chama. There are several restaurants in Chama, in addition to the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad Station, which was worth a quick stop.
The weather got wetter the farther north we rode. The area along the Conejos River heading toward Platoro was just as spectacular in the rain.
After spending our final night in Creede, we took a quick ride on the Bachelor Loop and headed back north on Hwy 149. After making a quick stop at North Clear Creek Falls, we rode from Slumgullion Pass back toward Cathedral, taking Cebolla Creek Road up to Powderhorn. We took the highway through Gunnison with a quick burger stop before heading through Almont to Taylor Park and back over Cottwood Pass to Buena Vista and back to Leadville.
What a great 4 day ride! We covered right about 1,000 miles over the 4 days. It was the perfect mix of dirt and pavement to cover enough distance, but not be in too much of a hurry. Northern New Mexico was beautiful, and the stop at San Antonio Hot Spring was definitely a highlight of the trip. If you’ve made it this far, check out a slideshow from the ride here….