Unfortunately I think you have nailed it. Cloudcroft was the centerpiece of my first 3 trips to real mountains back in the mid to late 90's. Sadly, little has changed. Seems like it is still mainly the High Altitude Race Course and the Rim Trail and the latter is pretty moto/ATV'd out. Better chances in the Ruidoso area, but that is still far from top shelf. Sucks because this area has serious potential and is about as close as Bentonville but has a real mountain climate, bears, elk, etc.