Volunteer Trail Build Day - Saturday March 4th

Our BLM friends have secured approval for our next trail out at Box Canyon and would like to hold a volunteer build day on Saturday March 4th (in two weeks!). Please spread the word and consider pitching in if you're available.

You can see our work area in the image below. We will start at the parking lot west of Black Canyon, hike up Gramont Peak Trail to the ridge, and then start working our way north. 

The plan is to have our work briefing at 9am and wrap up around 1pm. The BLM will provide trail tools and we'll have burritos delivered for a lunch break!

If you're willing to pitch in, please contact us (link to the right) so we can generate a headcount. We'll also send out more detailed information to volunteers the week before. 

Thanks everyone! This is going to be a really fantastic hiking/biking trail, perhaps our best yet, and I think you'll love it too. 

La Jornada Ultramarathon is coming on February 25th!

 

La Jornada De Las Quebradas is a 53 km ultramarathon through the rugged, colorful desert landscapes east of Socorro. Registration is open and the race takes place on February 23rd. Come join us for a brutal (but fun) race!

Socorro Trails & Trailhead Plan out for Public Comment

The BLM has been working diligently to expand and formalize our Socorro area trail network and they've put out the trail plan for public comment. This is a critical juncture - we need as many supportive comments on the trail plan as possible to make this happen. 

The plan is expansive - it formalizes and develops the Socorro Single Track segments that are on the BLM, adds new trail loops connecting off Blue Canyon Trail and around the Box, and even formalizes the Chupadera Crossing Loop too. We'd protect what we have today and get 20 miles of new hike/bike/equestrian trails and up to five developed trailheads if this goes ahead!

Please submit feedback; you can submit your comments here: 

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022862/595

Gramont Peak is Official

Gramont Peak was officially named in late 2022 after Bertrand (Bert) Gramont (1958-1996) who was a Tech graduate student (MS 1990 in E&ES) and also the climbing instructor.  Bert was from France, and he helped introduce safe sport climbing to The Box with bolt-protected routes.  The BLM recently marked the peak, so make sure to go sign in on the peak log. You can also add your own contributions for way-markers to popular climbing spots 😄

There's a nice little article in the Defensor Chieftain about it if you're interested. 

Gramont Peak Trail

We had another successful volunteer trail building day out at Box Canyon on Saturday June 4th, to celebrate National Trails Day. Approximately 20 volunteers built the 0.6 mile trail to the overlook at Gramont Peak. It'll be on the BLM trail map shortly!

Now that we've made it up to the ridge line, the next project will extend the trail to the north, connecting to the main Box trail head. We'll continue after that to the North-East, ending at a trail head near the 'shrine'. This will make a nice loop at the end of Black Canyon for mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians. 

New BLM Trail Maps

 Between the various volunteer groups we've had a lot of progress the last 12 months on trails near Box Canyon and San Lorenzo Canyon. The BLM has formalized these contributions on a set of new trail maps. Check 'em out if you want to go explore:

Blue Canyon Trail Map

San Lorenzo Canyon Trail Map (more hiking than biking today)

Datil Well Trail Map

Blue Canyon Trail is Open!

Thanks to our friends at the BLM Socorro Field Office, the widetrack trail from the top of Blue canyon to the city limit is now complete! You can find a map of it here. 

The widetrack section still needs a bit of finish work (we'll schedule another volunteer day in the near future), but it's rideable/hikable today, so you should check it out!

The City of Socorro has also made progress connecting the widetrack section of the Blue Canyon Trail to the 5K trail at the Rodeo Complex. A new access road/trail connects from the 5K trail to the fence line. If all goes well, final connections will be roughed in and gates installed within the next couple of months.