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Rim Trail Cloudcroft NM
- Thread starter Jbay
- Start date
TNC
0
Yeah, it's a very decently maintained trail. I've done it by mountainbike and dirt bike, and it's a lot of fun. When it's dry, I don't think it's that hard. I rode it one time on a mountainbike after a rain, and it was a slimy slip-and-slide. I think the slick rocks and roots would have made a dirt bike ride a good deal of work and not as much fun. One time I rode it in the fall at the peak of tree color, and it was one of the most beautiful rides I've ever taken. The extreme reds and yellows with the sun shining caused me to have to put on my shades. You usually need clear lenses in a forest ride like this, but that ride was awesome and breathtaking.
Rocks, rocks and more rocks!!!!
One of the things those vids (or any pics or vids for that matter) don't show accurately are the sheer grades of the trail. The Rim Trail is literally cut right along the side of the mountain. At some places the trail is so narrow that on one side it's a drop off and on the other you can touch the side of the mountain without fully extending your arm.
Some of the switchbacks were so tight they were almost vertical rock and root covered hairpins that took every bit of skill I could muster to keep the bike upright. This pic is a good example of how inaccurate the camera shows the view. It looks like my brother is straight across the valley but he's actually about 200' below me. This is one of those one handed pics as my other hand was planted firmly on the brake lever.
The trail intersects several Forest Service roads every few miles or so which are good, flat places to stop and rest. Here's me and my brother arguing over which road we were crossing. I was right of course!
...
Don't tell him I said that.
Occasionally the trail will open up into a clearing and WOW!!!!
You can see for a hundred miles!!!!
That was a heck of a cool trip, we sure had fun!!!
Tried it this year when I was out there with Richard and John. The KLR was too heavy for it and I didn't have the mad skillz to handle it either.
Trice, if you rode any of it on a KLR650 you have more "skillz" than you think.
Unless you're some huge dude I wouldn't attempt it on anything bigger than a 400.
If you don't have the skillz, I ain't got a chance on the DR.
Might try it on the XT since I'm heading back to NM.