Cloudcroft, NM Road Information

My brother and I will be in the Cloadcroft, NM area this coming weekend. I have put together a route around the area and I was wondering if there was any local knowledge here that could tell me what kinds of roads these are. Gravel, dirt, paved or imaginary. I think a mix of all the above would be cool. But there are going to be people there on plastic covered bikes that would prefer to avoid any type of unpaved road.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Here is a link to the route;

Google Maps Route

I'm pretty sure your north loop is all pavement. The south loop I'm not sure. The part I'm not sure about is between Timberon and Pinion. In particular the stretch from Timberon to 506 and maybe 506. Sunspot Highway is paved all the way from CC to Timberon. 130 is paved and so is 24.

244 is my favorite, sweeping with some twisties. 82 is pretty nice and scenic coming up the mountain and has a tunnel. Pretty winding also. Everything is paved and is a great ride. I go every couple of weeks up this way to camp and ride. There are some nice state parks to camp in on 244.

130 is only paved to Timberon as far as I understand. I haven't been down that far yet.

For food, I always stop at the "Texas Pit Barbeque" and "The Cross-eyed Moose" (May have that one named wrong) in Cloudcroft. In Ruidoso the "Dream Catcher" is pretty good and the "Log Cabin" has great breakfast. You'll have a great time. Enjoy.

I'd play tour guide but we're headed to the Hill Country. Good Luck. Watch for the Cattle on 244.

Wes said:

For food, I always stop at the "Texas Pit Barbeque"

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That just seems wrong. Like getting Mexican food in Chicago!

Thanks for the information. I hope to do this route. I think everyone else wants to run over to Silver City. Been there and done 152 several times. Great road, better during the day than at night. But I wanted to try something new.

I will report back on the whole route if I can talk everybody into it.

I know it sound wierd but they have the best ribs. The just fall off the bone. Every time I eat there I get the meat sweats.

I forgot to tell you, the whole area is a Park so in most places you can camp any where that isn't private property.

The road that goes south out of Mescelero (toward 244) is paved only part of the way (maybe half); then it turns to dirt. I realize this is not shown on your route. But when I rode the area we got bored with the same old roads and tried this one. If this happens to your group- be prepared.

Also, a road not to miss is the one that goes up to the ski area, just north of Riodosa. It is only about 10 miles each way- but worth the trip.

And the ride from Cloudcroft to Sun Spot is spectacular. Once you get to Sun Spot you start finding dirt roads there too.

North of Riodosa, in the the high deset areas and just before dark, we saw several large rattlesnakes on the edge of the roads; soaking up the last of the days heat. These things are pretty solid if you run over them at 75 mph. I avoided all but one and thought it was going to break my front wheel. And the grasshoppers were in season too. There were thousands of them in the road- they would jump up in the air just as you approached- on a collision course with you. It took days and days to clean off all their remains from my bike, boots and pants. (we were there in early October, 2008)

The road to Almorgodo is shizzle, IMO.

I went up the road up to the ski Apache a few weekends ago having never ridden it. I have driven it in the winter to go skiing and it looks fun. During the summer however it is a bad idea. The road is in bad condition and is covered with gravel and pot holes. If you want to ride up for a nice view then take your time and enjoy the scenery. But a spirited romp up that road will probably end in a bad crash.

stan817 said:

The road to Almorgodo is shizzle, IMO.

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Last time we went through there, I think we passed at least 4 LEOs on this road. Luckily there was traffic keeping our speed within the legal limits.