These instructions are for arriving from the north. While they work for
arriving from the south, a more efficient route exists.
The county maintains the road you take to get to the trailhead.
The quality of the road is dependent on the recent weather and when
they last graded it. It may be sandy, and it may have deep ruts.
A high-clearance vehicle might be needed; if it has a lot of loose sand,
four- or all-wheel drive may be necessary. The Socorro BLM office phone
number is (505)-835-0412; if you are unsure, call about the road status.
Exit from Interstate 25 at San Acacia (Exit 163), which is about 3.5
miles past the rest area. Head south on the east frontage road (you are
following the signs toward Polvadera, although you will not go there).
After about 2.2 miles on the frontage road, you will see a narrow (one
car wide) underpass under the Interstate (this is the second underpass,
and there are also some bridges that go under the freeway). The turnoff
from the frontage road is just north of some houses.
After you cross under I-25, the paved road goes left, and a dirt road
goes more-or-less straight ahead. Take this dirt road. I set the
odometer to 0.0 here.
Stay on the "main" road, the one that is wider and somewhat less rough
than the other roads that intersect it; it gets more traffic than these
other roads and you can normally tell which road gets most of the traffic.
After 0.3 miles, the road climbs a hill. At just under 1.3 miles, you
start to come down from the hill. At about 2.0 miles, you will see the
San Lorenzo sign on your right. Turn right and cross the cattle guard.
The road weaves in and out of an arroyo; sometimes in it, other times
beside it. You will probably see tire tracks going off into the arroyo
when the road takes off to be beside it. Beware that some of these side
branches are sandy and it is easier to get stuck. This arroyo is coming
from the canyon that is your destination.
About 4.2 miles from the paved road, you reach the entrance to the canyon.
As you get closer to the canyon, you can begin to see the interesting
geology pictured here. The mesa pictured here is a sign you are close.
The road ends in the canyon. We suggest stopping at the mouth, so you
can take your time and really see it.
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Very nice webpage and features. I'll refer visitors to take a look at this. I'm the BLM outdoor recreation planner responsible for recreation management on BLM's portion of SLC. Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge manages 1/2 of the canyon), the boundary going down pretty much the center of the canyon. On Sun Feb 19 22:06:33 2006 Dave, Stu, Mike and the dogs from Albuquerque said:
Hiked on a beautiful 65 degree mid-February 2006 day. We never could have found this without the directions...the roads to here are not marked. The suggestion to park at the mouth of the canyon and walk in was great...the views walking in are spectacular. There were a few people here when we visited...three cars with a small boy scout troop and one pickup with a camper. There was not anyone walking or hiking except us. We explored a few of the side canyons. There is a slot canyon, a small cave you can see from the road, there was even a pool of water in one canyon. We walked some of the back country on top of the canyons. San Lorenzo is a truly beautiful area that is not crowded. Unfortunately a few people who do not appreciate how precious a beautiful area like this is have left there mark...there is some graffiti painted on the side of a canyon wall, a few beer bottles, some campfires, and some shotgun shells. Don't let news of this stop you...this area is among the most beautiful canyons of a very beautiful state. On Sun Feb 4 19:28:07 2007 Anonymous from Albuquerque, NM said:
02/04/2007 Thank you for the wonderful directions and pictures. My friend and I were looking for a winter hike near Albuquerque. We would have never ventured to this area if we hadnt found your site. Interesting geology and landscape. On Fri Mar 16 12:23:54 2007 Martha from Albuquerque, NM said:
Hi.. I visited this area just yesterday.. had to stop for directions at the gas station nearby. The first question the fella there was what kinda vehicle am I driving.. he said the roads are very sandy. He said as long as I have front wheel drive & DO NOT STOP, I probably would do ok.. I made it to the canyon fine.. Beautiful area.. I parked near the mouth of the canyon & hiked down the road aways. It was a little tough hiking as it was walking on a beach! I spent a couple of hrs just hiking, scrambling around & taking pics. I had trouble leaving out as I missed the correct road. Of course then I got stuck in the sand! Had to hike out to I25 & the frontage road to get help! I stopped at a house where a nice man with a big truck pulled me out! I really dont know exactly how I missed the main road out, but I did! But... I had a wonderful time! On Sun Mar 25 18:53:12 2007 Clinton Brown from albuquerque said:
The direction that we pulled from this web site were very good. I used my GPS to pull some coordinates so that I would have a trail to follow. The turn from the frontage road is the tricky one, there are two, take the second turn to the west, under I25, this turn is next to a house. We did however find that the road is blocked by some very large rocks further down. Where we stopped the coordinates are N 34 14.402 W 10700.385 we thought that we were where we wanted, as we looked over our maps we found that we were short of the springs. We suggest that you do some map study before you go, there are different routes to take to the west side of rocks. There is a turn at cord. N34 14.020 W 106 58.061 this trail appears to go north and ends up west of the blocking rocks. This area is, we believe the best area to hike and see the true marvels of the canyon. My father and I are looking forward to revisiting this area soon, to verify our thoughts and assumpsion. Any question you can email me at caslbrown@msn.com, I would be glad to help. Clinton Brown PS sorry for any misspellings On Sat Jan 14 18:46:03 2012 Catherine from Somewhere said:
Finally made it to this beautiful canyon today. The cool weather up north made this the perfect winter hike for me. There was some snow, which made for muddy walking, but nothing too strenuous. I explored the main canyon, took a few side hikes, and went just a few turns past the cottonwood/rock wall. I took a ton of pictures, so I was there at least 3 hours enjoying the interesting geology. The road to San Lorenzo Canyon is pretty apparent. The sandy arroyo was the only thing that worried me, given the prior entry. The sand could be problematic, but the best advice is don't slow down too much and certainly don't stop in the sand. Also, bring sunblock as there's not much shade.