Cebolla Mesa to the Rio Grande
 | This hike is a short but steep scenic drop from the mesa down into the Rio Grande Gorge. As you descend, you go through several biomes; the trees change from piñon and juniper to blue spruce and Doug fir. You start with desert plants and end with plants that live along rivers. Add to this the great views and sounds of the river and you have a pleasant hike. This hike connects to the nearby BLM Wild Rivers area. |
| Hike data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the trailhead | About the hike | Plants along the trail | Comments |
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| Date: | 2006-09-01 |
| Time it took us: | 2:38 Moving time 1:32. |
| Usage (people/hour): | 0.76 We saw one couple while hiking. During boating season (spring), the usage might be higher. |
| Cleanliness: | 9 |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| CEBRGX1 | Trail junction | Cebolla Mesa to Rio Grande jct to small river beach trail |
| CEBOLLACG | Campground | Carson National Forest Cebolla Mesa campground |
| Map name | Cartographer | Year | Scale | Topo map? | Online access | Notes |
| Carson National Forest | US Forest Service | 2002 | 1:126720 | N | From the National Forest Store (purchase) | Camino Real and Questa ranger districts and Valle Vidal Unit side of the map |
| Guide to Indian Country of Arizona Colorado New Mexico Utah | Automobile Club of Southern California | 1998 | 1:0 | N | Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (purchase) | Good overview road map for northwest NM. No scale is given on the map. The corner coordinates are approximate. |
| Wheeler Peak | BLM | 2001 | 1:100000 | Y | Public Lands Information Center (purchase) | |
| Wildernesses of New Mexico | US Forest Service | 1981 | 1:1000000 | N | No online copies. | Base map with national forests, wilderness areas and highways. |
From Taos, head north on NM 522 (this highway starts out as US 64, but on the north edge of Taos, 64 goes left and 522 continues north). Between mile markers 15 and 16 you will see a sign about Forest Road 9 and Cebolla Mesa. Take Forest road 9 west (left) about 4 miles to the Cebolla Mesa campground. At the campground, the road splits. Take the left branch to the trailhead. There is no sign along the road to indicate you have arrived at the campground. See the Cebolla Mesa campground web site for a photo of the campground entrance. When we visited, the road had ruts indicating that it becomes slick and muddy when wet. |  |
 | Just behind the trailhead, a sign indicates this is trail 102. About 20
paces down the trail, you encounter your first switchback. Be careful
here, as another trail goes straight. It leads to a view point and a
much steeper, old version of the trail. After you have made the
switchback, this is the view you see.
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You immediately get great views into the gorge. As you descend, they
slowly change, always different, always interesting.
|  |
 | The trail is steep at times, so watch your step. Small gravel can be
like ball bearings. Diana uses hiking poles on trails like this.
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When we hiked, this large rock and a big tree had fallen across the
trail. With care, you can cross on the remaining part of the trail.
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 | As you descend, the views of the gorge change. If you look at the
larger version of this picture, lust a little to the left of the center
of the picture are two hills of basalt. The trail goes just to the
right of these hills.
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The trail has a lot of elevation change, and as a result, it has many
switchbacks, such as the one you can see most of here.
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 | Keep your eyes open for wildlife, such as this basalt-colored lizard.
We heard several different birds, but did not identify them. The Rio
Grande is an important migratory path, and as a result you are likely to
see many different types.
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In this photo, you can see the vault toilet for the BLM Wild Rivers
campground. It is across the Red River from you, and where this trail
description will end.
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 | A bit more hiking, and you come to a T in the trail (GPS: CEBRGX1). If you go left, you get to this
small beach along the river (whether or not it will be there when you
arrive depends on the river level). We stopped and had lunch here.
From the junction, the main trail goes right.
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This trail goes to the confluence of the Red River and Rio Grande. Here
you can see the Red River. Its unusual color comes from the Molycorp
Mine.
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 | If you cross this bridge, you will be in the BLM Wild Rivers campground.
The BLM Wild Rivers area has a network of 22 miles of trails, some of
which will be showing up on ExploreNM as we have time to collect the
data and get it up.
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Plants we saw along the trail:
Reader comments about this hike:
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I hiked this trail on 09/04/2007. A very beautiful hike. A golden eagle explored the gorge while we began our hike back to the top. The tree is still down across the path but there is space next to the hillside where you can pass. On Sat Mar 19 17:30:04 2011 Michaela C. Filler from Durango, Colorado said:
My husband and I hike this trail every time we visit Taos, NM. It is one of our favorite hikes in the area. The trek posses challenges -watch for loose rocks- the switchbacks are steep. Keep focused and you find the effort well worthwhile. I don't recall whether or not the rock/tree still blocked the trail. This is a truly inspirational experience. We last hiked this trail in October, 2010. The chamisa was in full bloom. A tarantula crossed our path! The beaches by the river were clean and a great place for a picnic. I highly recommend this wonderful, scenic hike!