Tunnel

Total Miles
2.4

Elevation

2,157.63 ft

Duration

0.5 Hours

Technical Rating

5

Moderate

Best Time

Spring, Fall, Winter

Trail Overview

Tunnel is a 2.6-mile-long single track in the Manzanita Mountain Trail System. It is accessed either from the Tunnel Trailhead or Otero Trailhead off State Highway 337, south of the town of Tijeras, New Mexico. The trail is full of tight curves, switchbacks, and rock obstacles. The south end is pretty fast and flowy and flat, gaining 300 feet in the first mile, then dropping 500 feet over the next 1.6 miles as it heads north. The trail has lots of intermittent small rock ledges that are one- to two-foot-tall blunt ledges and are kind of jarring. There are lots of sections of shelfy narrow flowy trail between the obstacles. Some of the ledges are on the shelfy sections as well, which makes them more difficult. You can make this a loop with Birdhouse, which is more difficult.

Photos of Tunnel

Tunnel
Tunnel

Difficulty

This is an intermediate single track with frequent rock ledge obstacles.

Technical Rating

5

Status Reports

There are no status reports yet for this trail.

Access Description

The Manzanita Mountain Trail System is a very well-maintained multi-use area popular for hiking, horses, mountain biking, and dirt bikes. There are 40+ trails ranging from a mile to 5 miles long of varying difficulties between easy and advanced in a Chihuahuan desert terrain in the Cibola National Forest. There are enough trails for 2-3 days of riding, and it's best in fall and spring when it's not too hot. Be aware of oncoming traffic since there are lots of tight turns and it can be busy. There are several staging areas from the north off of Chamiso Canyon Road, as well as the Tunnel and Pine Flat Trailheads along State Road 337, and from the south at the Oak Flat Trailhead.

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