2025 USFS Trail Projects

We've been remiss in posting on the blog lately, so just a little update on recent and upcoming projects in the Magdalena Ranger District. 

Working with our friends at NMVFO and the Cibola National Forest, we have held two volunteer workdays this summer focused on Six Mile Canyon Trail #14 and North Baldy Trail #8. A project is also planned for the Water Canyon Nature Trail on August 23rd. 

You can find some photos of the Six Mile Canyon project and North Baldy Trail projects on the NMVFO Flickr page. A big thank you to everyone who has come out for these projects! It's through volunteer engagement that we improve access to outdoor recreation and stewardship of our public lands. 

Here are a few shots showing trail corridor clearing on North Baldy Trail.

O2O Trail Construction Progress

Many thanks to the 26 volunteers (including our friends from NMFVO) who showed up last Saturday! We had another really successful volunteer trail building day, completing 0.5 miles of the new BLM O2O Trail. It's surprisingly quiet and scenic tucked up against the mesa edge and I think this is going to be a really nice loop option with the Blue Canyon Trail when we're done.

The next build day on the O2O Trail is scheduled for Saturday April 13th.

2024 Spring & Summer Projects

We're trying to set our volunteer trail day schedule a little in advance this year. We're also coordinating with our friends in the New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors to host more joint projects. 

Here are the currently planned projects for the spring and early summer. We'll add to this list, but hope you'll consider marking these dates on your calendar and joining us for some fun.

• Saturday March 9: Work on the Box-Enterprise Trail Network, constructing the new O2O Trail west of Socorro. 
• Saturday April 13: More work on the Box-Enterprise Trail Network, hopefully finishing the O2O Trail. 
• Saturday June 15: Working on the popular Timber Peak Trail #70 in the Magdalena Mountains. We'll clear deadfall and remove overgrowth to improve this scenic hike.
• Sat-Sun July 13-14: Working on the 6-Mile Canyon Trail in the Magdalena Mountains. We'll clear deadfall and overgrowth to improve navigation on this long and scenic trail. We've reserved the group campsite at Water Canyon Campground for the weekend, so volunteers are welcome to camp out!

Please do consider volunteering. We've been a productive group these last two years thanks to strong participation from the community, and you can help us continue to improve outdoor recreation and access. If you'd like to help out, please contact us. 

O2O Trail Construction on Saturday March 9th!

We'll be working on building the new O2O Trail on Saturday March 9th with some help from our friends from the New Mexico Volunteers For the Outdoors. The O2O Trail is the first of the stacked-loop trails that connect off the existing Blue Canyon Trail.  The trail is named after the Ocean to Ocean Highway, the original name for Highway 60, which this trail parallels. 

If you're willing to volunteer to help us build this new trail please contact us. 

You can see the alignment of the new trail in the figure below (shown in red). The existing trails are shown in blue, the powerline right-of-way in purple, and the Highway 60 trailhead is denoted with a "P" symbol. The trail will form a 2.8 mile loop with the Blue Canyon trail from the trailhead.

2023 Recap

As we close out 2023, it's a good time to reflect on what we managed to achieve with our partners last year:

• With the BLM and Rocky Mountain Youth Corp we built the Descansos Trail and Dirt Wall Trail out at Box Canyon. We also started the Landavaso Trail System near Magdalena.
• We started working with the Forest Service and logged over 260 volunteer hours in the Magdalena Mountains, clearing over a hundred fallen trees and overgrowth. We also did some joint deadfall projects with the New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors (NMVFO).
• With the City we built the Lasso Loop at the Rodeo Grounds and helped host two youth mountain bike races.
• We installed trail markers at the Rodeo Grounds and on the Socorro Valley Bosque Trail; the latter thanks to a donation from NMVFO. The City and BLM started to build trail map/information kiosks for the Rodeo Grounds and Box-Enterprise networks.
• And finally we did a number of smaller maintenance projects in the Quebradas, Box-Enterprise network, Socorro Single track, and on the Bosque trail.

I think that's a pretty impressive haul for our little volunteer group! Thank you for all you do to improve the quality of life for Socorro area residents and outdoor enthusiasts. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back, and then let's keep the momentum as we start the new year.

Descansos Trail construction:

Landavaso Trail construction:

Deadfall and overgrowth clearing in the Maggies:

Lasso Loop Lineup MTB race:

Happy Trails!

Socorro Valley Bosque Trail Work

It's the time of year to enjoy the Socorro Valley Bosque Trail, so a small group of us worked on trail cleanup, overgrowth clearing, and trail marker installation today. Extra thanks to our friends at NMVFO who donated the trail markers and stickers to improve navigation along the trail! 

The Socorro Valley Bosque Trail is about 3.25 miles long and passes through a few of the Riverine Parks. It's not pretty easy to follow, starting from Otero Park just east of Socorro. The river is flowing nicely and the leaves are still in full color in this southern part of the Bosque, so make sure to visit the trail and enjoy the fall colors while we still can!

The Lasso Loop Lineup is a Wrap!

Thank you to NMICL, the City of Socorro, and all the volunteers who helped pull off the Lasso Loop Lineup youth MTB race this weekend. We had 118 racers from middle school through high school and a lot of positive feedback (though we could have all done without the wind!) Thank you racers, coaches and parents for coming out! 

We're proud of our little part in it and happy to see that the race course held up to its first test. It was really rewarding to see these young athletes push their limits while demonstrating fair and generous behavior - especially the varsity girls who were neck and neck for four laps! There are always lessons learned with a new event, but we're calling this one a success and look forward to making the Rodeo Grounds Hoedown Throwdown on October 28-29 even better!