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Glorieta, NM.


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I looked into Glorieta Baldy and downloaded trail maps and such 10 years ago.  

Ride reviews were mixed back then but it's the closest place to Austin that I could find where I could get to 10k feet for some altitude+elevation training.  I never went... I drove the additional 7 hours and rode in Breckenridge instead.

As I'm looking at the rainy forecast for Bentonville next week when I had planned to go, I was actually thinking about heading West instead and it's crazy you posted about Glorieta.

I'm curious to see if anyone has gone recently and what the trails are like.

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13 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

 

As I'm looking at the rainy forecast for Bentonville next week when I had planned to go, I was actually thinking about heading West instead and it's crazy you posted about Glorieta.

 

 

I'd much prefer hot & dry over wet rainy...but don't underestimate Bentonville.  It generally drains water well and there are a few trails you can still ride wet (& while raining): Hobbs may be one of the best, there is an actual 'wet loop' on the Back 40, we were recently told Little Sugar (Tunnel Vision) was good when wet.  All 3 of those are the bigger rides with some variety of route options.  

Some places there like Coler would be off limits.  Likewise most of the fun smaller simple stuff in town (All American, Slaughter Pen(?), ) don't work when wet either.

Cheers,
CJB

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When you say Glorieta, did you mean the camp that is an off-shoot of Camp Eagle -- Glorieta Adventure Camps?  It's relatively close to Santa Fe. They've developed a serious amount of single track (15 mi or so) and at least in the past and according to trailforks, it is open for public riding by using a specific trailhead. 

Here's the trailforks link:  Glorieta Adventure Camps Mountain Biking Trails

Edited by June Bug
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https://www.strava.com/activities/5454051957/segments/2838583335636751046

This wasn't much of a ride because I was with my wife and didn't have time to go out on my own. But it is a beautiful place and the little I rode was fun. My friend that works at the camp said that it has been built by legit professional mountain bike-centric trail builders. Definitely worth checking out.

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Just now seeing this.

We rode the Glorieta trails when we were in Santa Fe June 2018. We planned on riding the Windsor but since the Santa Fe Natl Forest was closed due to drought we couldn't. Glorieta is on private land inside SFNF so we still got to ride.

I thought it was super fun. We parked at a church and rode into the camp - did 2 laps of about a ~2mi ascent on steep jeep road for a 5-10 minute 2mi descent. Back then the family who owned Camp Eagle also owned Glorieta. Might be different now, I'm not sure. They had just had a big enduro race right before we went. I'd recommend it for sure but then again that was 2 or 3 years ago now.

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Glorieta was originally a Baptist church camp and conference center founded in 1952.  After losing money for 24 or the last 25 years, it was sold for $1 to the umbrella entity that owns Camp Eagle, which is a nondenominational evangelical Christian adventure camp. 

I'm assuming the programming and focus at Glorieta are very similar to Camp Eagle.  

Texas has some very strict laws regarding who can be on campus at children's camps when campers are in residence.  On race weekends, Camp Eagle strictly structures arrival and exit times for racers to make absolutely sure no race participants and guests remain on campus when campers arrive - zero overlap. 

New Mexico may have different laws that allow mountain bikers to use trails even when campers are in residence. 

Edited by June Bug
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What we rode of Glorieta is awesome. We didn't get to experience all of it, but what we did was super fun. We parked at the church, which didn't seem to be used anymore. There were other vehicles with bike racks and a kiosk with a map, so it definitely felt like we were in the right place. The trails were well built and maintained. There were lots of signs at first, but I think it's a work in progress because I didn't see any after a while and we missed a turn that is pretty critical. 

We started up Cairn Me Up which is a 5 mile/ 1000ft. climb and descended Jagged Ax, which was one of the my favorite trails we rode all week (including Windsor, the AF park, SBT, and singletrack in AF). Jagged Ax is rocky, technical, and challenging, but nothing that was too big or didn't have a B line. At the bottom, there is a very cool flow trail. Cairn Me Up would have been a less challenging, but super fun decent as well if you weren't up for Jagged Ax.

We intended to do another loop off the back with another 1000 ft climb and decent (Snack Pack and Holy Mole). I think you have to take the fireroad that others have mentioned there and back to get to it. Unfortunately, we didn't get there. We missed the turn into Jagged Ax and the trail got steeper. We climbed/hiked an accidental 500 ft, which zapped the extra time and energy we had for the other loop. Looking at MTB Project, there are more options over on that side too.

One of my best friends now lives in Santa Fe, so I'm sure I'll be back, and Glorieta will be on the top of my list to ride again and see what was missed. 

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Edited by notyal
Added some pics
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