Goldilocks and the bike trails

We've been getting more into mountain biking recently and so we have done a few hikes in an attempt to find good bike trail options.  Apparently we have a lot of criteria for what makes something a good bike trail... I don't like too many hills or loose rocks, it has to be remote enough and not busy so that we can have the dogs off leash, and we'd like to find one that takes 2-3 hours.  This has been a challenge and unfortunately we really still haven't found the perfect trail.  There is one that we've done a few times that checks most of the boxes but it's just a little too short and only takes about an hour.  Anyway, here is one we tried, Poker Chip Trail.  It was great in terms of length and remoteness, but too many rocks and hills for my taste.  Nice trail for hiking though!





Also some more signs of sea life from a long time ago at 7,000 feet above current day sea level!



We also tried one called Oterro Canyon, which meets all of the criteria except that it was way too crowded.  Josh even went back on a week day and said it was still really busy, too busy to have the dogs off leash and not be worrying about them getting run over by a bike (and causing a crash) the whole time.  But it was another nice hike with some beautiful fall colors.









We also came across this comforting warning sign...



At least now we know what to do if we encounter a cougar!  The fact that it says to keep children within arms reach probably also means we shouldn't have the dogs off leash running a few hundred feet away from us...

Remember the Crest and Faulty Trails, our first hikes here in New Mexico?  We finally revisited the Faulty trail and it looks totally different at this time of year than mid-summer.  I do miss the fall leaves in Georgia but I'm glad to have found so much nice foliage around here too.





So for now I guess we'll have to stick with the shorter bike trail that seems to meet all the other requirements and maybe just do it twice in a row until we find our perfect bowl of porridge.