San Lorenzo Canyon Recreation Area

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, and continue past the BLM signs indicating that they do not do garbage collection out here (pack it out).

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. After just under a mile, you come off the hill. 0.7 miles after you come off the hill, you will see the San Lorenzo sign on your right (this is 1.7-1.8 miles from the pavement). 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 2.5 miles from the cattle guard (4.2 miles from the pavement), you reach the entrance to the canyon. As you get closer to the canyon, you can begin to see the interesting geology pictured here. This mesa 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.

On Fri Jan 13 12:33:33 2006 Mike Bilbo from BLM, Socorro Field Office, NM said:
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.

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.

	Assuming you start hiking at the canyon mouth, this is the view up the canyon.
As you can see, the rock formations here are interesting. When we visited, the tamarisk (an invasive non-native plant) had been cut and burned. You can see some of the burned tamarisk in this picture. Note that the sandstone (such as is shown in the previous photo, this photo, and the next one) weathers, and this results in a layer of loose sand across the top. If you are on top of a sandstone formation, you may find yourself sliding on what feels like a bunch of small ball-bearings. A friend slid 200 ft down a slope into an arroyo. Such a slide could have much worse consequences if the slope ends in a drop-off (as many do), so please be careful.
	When you come to side canyons, you should explore them. We have seen slot canyons, shelter caves, beautiful little alcoves, arches and keyholes, and amazing geology. Look for where the water seeps from the canyon walls---you will often find more interesting life in these areas. If you sit still, you may see animals come to the water. Here is a view from the main canyon up one of the side canyons.
You can find great colors of lichen on rocks in the side canyons.
	We saw these interesting rocks in the wall up a side canyon as well.
This is one of the natural arches.
	When you get to what looks like the end of the canyon, climb up and you find that the canyon continues. This huge cottonwood is at this point.
This colorful mineral was one of many in the canyon wall above the climb. A geologist friend said that you can see calcedony, calcite, quartz, and other minerals. The tan-red rocks are sandstone. Starting near the large cottonwood, you also can see a greenish-slate colored rock that is andeste, a type of lava. All of the rocks you see here are a result of the Rio Grande Rift. The sandstones were deposited by the river earlier, around 30 million years or so ago. The widening of the rift is also responsible for the vulcanism that produced the andesite.
	This bunch of grass was really attractive when back lit.
This spring is one of a couple in the back part of the canyon. While we were hiking, one of the other hikers said that he had often seen wildlife such as deer at the springs. However, we did not see any. Not far past the springs, you run into a fence with a sign indicating you have reached the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. At this point, you can go no further.