Ride Review: Cedro Peak – Cibola National Forest – New Mexico
First Impressions: As soon as I entered the park, I realized that the entire mountain is open to riding and I couldn’t wait to get going.
Property type: Cedro Peak is located inside the Cibola National Forest. Permits are required to ride; you can go here to order online. The closest office in Albuquerque, at least 30 minutes away from the park entrance, so order online if you can. Fees for not having a riding permit range from $150 to getting kicked out.
Time of year: The first time I went was the last weekend in September, the weather was perfect, and the trails weren’t too crowded.
Location: Cedro Peak is located East of Albuquerque New Mexico off of I40, the park’s northern entrance is through Tijeras NM. Get a map to Cedro Peak here.
Elevation: 6,000 to 7,500ft
Cedro Peak Trails
Trail Type: The majority of the trails are single track. There’s one ATV track (that I found), and a few Jeep trails that bisect the park. I liked the Cedro Peak Jeep trail because it let me get to a specific part of the park quickly. Allowing me to save gas, time, and energy.
Terrain: Cedro Peak is a mountain. Almost every trail will consist of rocks in a hard pack. I found a few hard-packed tracks in valleys, but they were just fast and straight. When I did find some wet parts of the trail, they were sloppy.
Type of Riding: The trails on the mountain ranged from medium to Holy SH!T! Most of the trails were rocky with gradual inclines (like Coyote-Chamisoso), a few trails (like Delbert’s Trial) were extremely tight, and I suspect they were meant for mountain bikes. I found a few trails that were extremely steep and rocky with switchbacks all the way up. I wouldn’t recommend this park to beginners unless you’re with an experienced rider to help you through tough parts.
Outstanding Features: Some unique parts of Cedro Peak were the variety of difficulty, the length of the trails, and the speed of the trails, I rode 30 miles in 2hrs just wondering around.
Weather: The weather was cool with some rain. The weather hitting the mountains after coming off of Albuquerque’s heat bubble can be fairly unpredictable.
Stick Around!
Facilities: Vault toilets at most trailheads
Camping: There was only one official campground on the mountain by reservation only. However, there is plenty of disbursement camping throughout the trail system.
Length of stay: I would recommend a weekend stay. Set Up Camp on Friday, ride Saturday all day and Sunday morning. If you can physically ride longer, I would!
The people there: Everyone I talked to at the trailheads and on the trail was friendly for the most part. There were a lot of mountain bikers. When you go around them on the trail, they will either give you a wave or the stink eye. Just be considerate, and everyone will have a good time.
Final Word: Worth the drive. I was staying in Las Vegas NM when I made the trip to Cedro Peak. It was about a two-hour drive both ways. I made the trip twice in one month before I left Las Vegas. If you are within 4 hours of Cedro Peak, get your buddy’s and make the trip happen, it’s a great ride!
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See More Of Cedro Peak New Mexico!
- Full GoPro Supercut (Video)
- Main trail 13 (Video)
- Main trail 462 (Video)
- Coyote-Chamisoso Link (Video)
- Powerline (Video)
- Delbert’s trail (Video)
- Cedro Peak Slideshow (Video)
- Cedro Peak Gallery (Gallery)
- Full Ride Report (Article)
- Ride Report (Video)
