Eldorado Community Preserve Trails

Trail 101

In recognition of National Trails Day (Sat. June 8), I thought I'd spend the week posting write-ups and maps of area rec. trails. Continuing with the theme of less well known south-side trails here are the Eldorado Preserve Trails, just south of NM 285. A caveat with these lovely routes is that they're not public, they're owned by the Eldorado HOA and use is limited to Eldorado residents and their guests. If you've got a friend south of town. best to invite them out for a run then buy a round afterward at the Santa Fe Brewing tap room for recovery.

When I run out there I prefer to head out on the east loop (TR 101) which climbs to the ridgeline then banks west-southwest. Lots of sustained but manageable climbing to start with, I feel it's similar to Sun Mountain, plus a lovely controlled descent with views of Hamilton Mesa to the east and Galisteo valley to the west. The ECP trail network isn't huge like La Tierra or nearby Galisteo Basin but it's enough for a solid run of up to 60-90min with effort on the climbs.

Looking south to the Cerrillos Hills and Sandias beyond

Looking west to the trails high point and Glorieta Baldy beyond

Winding back to the trailhead - and needed hops/recovery

Related Posts:
 - Apache Canyon Loop
 - Arroyo Hondo Open Space
 - Craft Beer in New Mexico


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Apache Canyon Trail - Santa Fe, NM

dog and happy ponderosas above canyon

Saturday is National Trails Day. I'd thought I'd post a bunch of new trails, and as generally happens, I let the week get away from me. The first trail I thought I'd highlight is Apache Canyon.

Distance: ~6.3 miles loop
Max elev: 8,300ft
Net climbing: 1,100ft

A little known trail just north of town, but not well signed or mapped. To get there you drive up Old Santa Fe Trail several miles, through Canada de Los Alamos, stay on the road (now dirt) and you'll veer east and into the foothills eventually entering the NFS gate, now on FR 79. A few more miles of steep climbing and you'll find the not so well marked parking area and trailhead, look for parking blocks.

The trail starts and ends on unimproved forest roads. One charges off into the hills (east) for a mile-plus of pleasant windy roads, then you'll need to keep an eye out for some rock markers that will take you off trail and drop several hundred feet into the canyon. Lots of dramatic views, no people, a cool progression of tree and plant life as you descend, then later climb out of the canyon. Streams and wildlife on the canyon floor. The trailhead is at about 8,100', the canyon floor is at about 7,600' and there's a bit of climbing in between, so it's a tough loop but not as rough as running the steeps of Atalaya. When I was last there we casually ran it out in ~75min, although the climb out had us suffering.

Apache Canyon stream (courtesy of Mike Holdsworth)

A trail connector in the canyon bottom will take you up and east to Glorieta Baldy, which is maybe an additional 3-4mi one way. The ambitious might even stretch that route for a top-out on Thompson Peak. Most folks familiar with this trail will bike Glorieta Baldy from the south, then descend this section from the watchtower and make their way back to town once reaching the trailhead. There are also trail options to the north of the trailhead that tour back behind Atalaya and Sierra Pelada. Most are the adventure-type rather than picturesque-singletrack. Sadly I have no good photos of the trail or surrounding area, thwarted by high winds and snow when I was mapping this out in April. Perhaps this can add to the unknown mystique of this little gem.

Related Posts:
 - Glorieta Baldy
 - Eldorado Preserve Trails
 - Barbaria Trail Loop


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Trail Work - Arroyo Chamiso Trail

Arroyo Chamiso at Camino Carlos Rey (May 6, 2014)

Took the little one out for a run recently, cruising the Arroyo Chamiso trail since it's flat and right out the back door. In a stroke of irony, the paved trail I never run on because there's a perfectly runnable arroyo 30ft to the south, suddenly became unpaved. It seems the oldest trail in Santa Fe's urban trail system (1994) was scheduled for repair and re-paving.

I've noticed several other ongoing projects including erosion control at Arroyo Chamiso and Gail Ryba (at the underpass), erosion control on the Rail Trail at the county line (I-25 underpass), and the improvements at the La Tierra underpass to Ortiz Park.

I know a new bike lane is scheduled to be added to Old Santa Fe Trail soon (El Gancho Way to Zia Rd), and the missing stretch of the Arroyo Chamiso at Cerrillos Rd will be added soon along with the new business and residential developments going in there. There's also ongoing planning and design work on a proposed new alignment for the Arroyo Hondo Trail south of town (NM 14 to Richards Rd) which will eventually close a loop with Arroyo Chamiso and the Rail Trail. Good stuff.

Brand new trail - Arroyo Chamiso (May 25)

Related Posts:
 - Arroyo Chamisos Bike Trail Underpass (2012)
 - Trail Improvements on Winsor and Galisteo Basin (2013)
 - Santa Fe Rail Trail Re-Imagined


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La Luz Entries

Pikes Peak - looked cooler from the plane

Been traveling. The running could use more attention, but I did see this the other day >>>. A stellar viewing of a recently snow-capped Pikes Peak during my Santa Fe to Boulder fly by. Ascent Wave 1, still has open positions for the race this August.

Positions are locked over at La Luz, with the registration list now posted over at UltraSignUp.com. Yours truly landed a race bib, as did several other Santa Fe runners which is a fine thing. Almost felt like I was running alone out there last year, and I found my reppin' abilities to be severely limited by the sheer number of donuts and beer I was crushing back last summer. Among this year's SF crew I see Leigland, Corona, Dreier, Baker (now in Abq but a SFHS grad so I'm claiming him for SF), Conley, Gordon, and Temple. My man Steve got wait-listed as did Espo, which hurts, but maybe they slide in as the race approaches. Assuming we're all on the starting line in August this is quite the crew. There's also Halladay and Kneisler from the Hill who deserve mention.

Houghton casually crossing the finish for one of his recent titles (2011?)

The Big Guns up front include four-time champ Kris Houghton and two-time Big Tesuque champ Dustin Martin. Olympic Trials qualifier Jesse Armijo is currently wait-listed as is five-time champ Erica Baron on the women's side as is ultra-champ Katrin Silva.

Fired up about all of this. Lots to love about these recent events.
Reminder that Imogene registration is this Sunday, June 1st, 6am. Get some NM folks up there to battle the Flagstaff crew.

Related Posts: 
 - Simon Gutierrez
 - Tony Sandoval
 - Al Waquie

More on Boston - plus La Luz!

Shalane's 2:22 effort comes up short
courtesy of Google images

Two weeks later I'm still stoked from Meb's impossible Boston win. I unfairly left out any detail of the Women's race in my prior writeup due to the massive burning man-crush.

Quickly then - Shalane Flanagan was the runner all eyes were trained on, the one with the best chance of breaking the Boston curse and redeeming the City and the race from last year's tragedy. And she appeared to be channeling God because she ran lights-out. Unlike the men's race, the women's field wasn't about to let a runner of Shalane's caliber charge off without covering such a move. End result was a brilliant run by Shalane that dragged the field well under the course record but put five women between Shalane and the victor's olive wreath. She did nail down the American course record, took 3min off her career best (at Boston!) and is now the 3rd fastest American all-time (behind Joanie and Deena). Solid effort, but she was visibly crushed that she couldn't come through for her hometown. Better analysis of the race by Tony Reavis here.

Then there's this, tweeted out by the folks over at Pikes:

"... now holds the American course record at the Boston Marathon". Flanagan testing the ascent at Pikes Peak back in the day. Interestingly, her time isn't remotely close to the age-group record of 2hr 39min, which is pretty effin' fast. Faster than the guy typing this anyhow.

And this leads me to the broader topic of the summer trail racing season. It's here sons! Pikes is mostly full but there's still room in the Wave 1 Ascent field. Qualifying times are 1hr40min for a half marathon or 3hr45min for the marathon. Whadder' ya waitin' for? If you haven't yet laced up for a race with over 7800ft of elevation gain than you're really just piddlin' away your time and training, aren't you? Aren't you?

La Luz and the Rock Slide

Second note on running the summer Classics:  La Luz is still accepting entries into their registration lottery - extended through midnight of Saturday May 10th. Race day is August 4th. I'm getting one of those lottery spots and I'm sending that slot trail like Meb/Shalane on an April morning in Boston. Hide the women and children (Erica Baron excepted since she kicks my ass).

And the third marker on the summer Classics, Imogene:  Registration opens (and closes) the morning of June 1. Race day is September 6th. This race is so rad, I'm hoping the logistics fall together for me to return to this beaut this year. Plus Ouray now has their own brewpub (as does Ridgway), so there's that.

Related Posts:
 - La Luz Trail Run Recap 2013
 - Pikes Peak Ascent - trail report
 - Imogene Pass Trail Run 2013



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