Beginner Off-Road Trails Near Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico

This double-track trail takes you through cattle grazing farmland and ends at an overlook. Cows can be seen near the trail. There is nowhere to camp or turn around until the end of the trail.…
Learn more about Chaco Overlook

This easy route takes you from Highway 550 on CR 378 through Johnson Canyon to Largo Canyon. The sandy, rutted trail travels around incredible rock formations with black, yellow, and red layers of sedimentary rock.…
Learn more about Johnson Canyon

Relatively easy trail to one of the more remote ruins of the Chaco Canyon culture. The trail was rutted and uneven, and the last few hundred yards had significant mud due to recent rains. Otherwise,…
Learn more about Chaco Canyon to Kin Klizhin

This is a point-to-point route that takes you from Road 550 in Nageezi to the Valley of Dreams trailhead/parking lot. The first quarter to half mile or so is paved but quickly turns to a…
Learn more about Valley of Dreams East

This route follows Largo Canyon winding through the rugged, geographically ornamental, historic canyon. The canyon has a long history of human habitation from pre-contact Puebloan settlements, Navajo settlements, and historic homesteads. The route is muddy…
Learn more about Middle Largo Canyon

This trail follows BLM 1103 from the floor of the Rio Puerco Valley up a steep, rocky section to the top of a mesa. The route travels between the Ignacio Chavez Wilderness Study Area, Chamisa…
Learn more about Wilderness Study Areas

Off of Da-Na-Zin Road, this short spur trail takes you to an overlook right on the edge of the Bisti badlands. There is a closed gate at the entrance that should be closed behind you.…
Learn more about Bisti Badlands Overlook

This sandy, rutted route leads past Mesa de Cuba, the most eastern of the five mesas that comprise the San Juan Basin Badlands. There are a few places to park along the road. A short…
Learn more about Mesa de Cuba

San Luis Road to the Guadalupe Ruins is a fairly well-maintained dirt road, although there may be some ruts and sandy portions depending on the time of year. The 20-mile drive will provide opportunities to…
Learn more about San Luis Road to Guadalupe

This out and back trail leads to several panels of petroglyphs and a ruin that all require a short walk to view. Simple oilfield dirt roads lead you to the canyon entrance that will take…
Learn more about Largo Canyon to Crow Canyon

This trail drops down from the Gould Pass Pueblito trail and loosely encircles Crow Canyon, with multiple spurs leading to the different points that overlook the canyon. This trail ends on the south side of…
Learn more about Crow Canyon Overlook/Road 550

Both of these pueblitos require a short hike from their respective parking areas. The driving routes are easy with a few ruts. The road to the parking area for Shaft House Pueblito is narrow due…
Learn more about Citadel and Shaft House Pueblitos

This route connects the Hill Road Pueblito trail with the Citadel and Shaft House Pueblitos route. It travels through oil and gas fields with machinery and service vehicles. You may see a work truck or…
Learn more about Pueblito Way

This trail is a mixed-use oil and ranching road that runs between Route 550 and Road 7007. It offers relatively rapid access to the trails that zig-zag between Angel's Edge and Largo Canyon. From 550,…
Learn more about Jacquez Canyon Road

This set of well maintained, dirt roads provides access to Cabezon Peak from nearby Pipeline Road. It passes through some typical New Mexican high-desert scenery, with shrubs and cacti on either side of a winding…
Learn more about Backway to Cabezon Peak

This route connects the Old State Highway 279 off Highway 550 with South Pipeline Road, or Backway to Cabezon Peak. There is one major obstacle through the Rio Puerco Arroyo at the northern end. The…
Learn more about North Pipeline Road

This route might be a good alternative route when certain sections of "Backway to Cabezon" are washed out. The trail coincides with BLM 1113 for some sections but is rerouted for the portion of BLM…
Learn more about Cabezon Detour

The route is relatively easy except for washboarding and ruts in spots. It takes you to breathtaking views of rock formations, including Castle Rock and Angel Peak. Picnic tables overlook the amazing canyons. The campground…
Learn more about Angel Peak Picnic and Campground

This is a spur off of the Gould Canyon Pueblito Trail that leads to the Adolfo Canyon Pueblito. There are a few steep inclines with some bare rock. The view from the Pueblito itself is…
Learn more about Adolfo Canyon Pueblito Spur

This oil road starts out wide and sandy but gradually becomes increasingly narrow as it winds its way deeper into the canyon. There are some ledges when entering and exiting washes, but this is a…
Learn more about Kutz Canyon West

Starting in the high desert immediately adjacent to a canal, the loop utilizes BLM oil roads to dip down into the badlands surrounding Angel Peak. Zig-zagging across the sandy washes that weave through the bottom…
Learn more about Angel Peak Loop

This is an easy trail off New Mexico Highway 64 to the Hill Road Pueblito, an archeological site constructed in the late 1730s and early 1740s. Hill Road Pueblito sits on a boulder outcrop overlooking…
Learn more about Hill Road Pueblito

While this trail is not technically challenging there are a lot of terrain changes over it's 7.5-mile length. The west end of the trail starts with dirt, packed clay, and sand in a fairly open…
Learn more about Kutz Canyon East

This 4x4 road is a great intro to overlanding, with stunning views and minimal technical obstacles. Starting from Grants, the road climbs almost 5000 feet to within 1/2 mile of Mt. Taylor peak. The road…
Learn more about Mt. Taylor Peak 4x4 Road

Easy trail that feels more like a mountain road, with awesome views and several places to stop and explore. It's an excellent route to reach either side of the mountain. The trail can get a…
Learn more about Canada Simon Trail

CR 7020 is a 7-mile off-road trail and oil access road that serves as the easiest and most direct route from Highway 550 to the Angel Peak Loop and Kutz Canyon. The trail combines sections…
Learn more about RD 7020

This route descends almost a thousand feet from Carson National Forest and Lagoona Seca Mesa to meander 5.5 miles along Munoz Canyon before meeting the Hill Road Pueblito trail. Initially a well kept, graded NFS…
Learn more about Munoz Creek/NFS 357

Manzanares Ridge (CR 520) is a gorgeous Sunday drive, winding through fields of sagebrush dotted with juniper and pinion trees. Its placement along the high point of Manzanares Mesa offers panoramic views as the trail…
Learn more about Manzanares Ridge - CR 520

This route travels through pinon and juniper trees in the lower elevation and ponderosa pine trees and Aspen at the higher elevations. The trail is sandy and rutted in a few spots. There is a…
Learn more about West Trail Creek - FR 20

This route travels up a rutted hill and then on some easier oil and gas roads before getting rocky and rougher right before Old Fort Pueblito parking. A free New Mexico State Land Permit is…
Learn more about Old Fort & Three Corn Pueblitos