Cool Mountain Bike Trails in Town
The Los Alamos Townsite (defined as the area between Los Alamos Canyon to the south and Arizona Street/North Mesa to the north) contains an incredible variety of mountain biking trails. You'll find smooth, fast singletrack and steep, rutted technical slickrock. If there's any shortcoming to the intown rides, it's that they tend to be very short, and have to be linked with each other to create longer rides. Rides are listed in no particular order.
1. North Community Trails
Technical difficulty: varies
Physical difficulty: 2+
Elevation gain/loss: very little over 2 miles
varies. Mostly singletrack.
Runs from the west end of the Arizona Firebreak trail to Pipeline road (about half a mile up.) To find the trail(s) from the North end, ride west from the water tower until you see a rocky singletrack leading left (and back to Arizona street.) Just as you drop onto this trail, another, fainter trail will split off to the right. Take this, and wander your way south to Pipeline road. You can take singletrack basically the entire way, but the trails are a real maze, and it takes a while to figure out the best route. Total distance is 1.5-2.5 miles, depending on where you go.
2. Lower Quemazon
Technical difficulty: 4-
Physical difficulty: 3
Elevation gain/loss: ~1500 feet over 3 miles
100% singletrack
The best technical ride in town. This is a fairly brutal (but not loose) struggle uphill for approximately 3 miles. Lots of slickrock bumps, roots, and ruts. An excellent practice ride for those working on their technical skills. Runs from the Western Area water towers to Pipeline road. Though this was once a road, it has not been maintained in at least a decade, leading to it's designation as (wide) singletrack. This is not a good ride for people who don't like technical stuff or want to go really fast - doing the whole trail out and back in under an hour is quite an achievement. The Knapp trail, which takes off about 2.5 miles up, is a fun steep downhill into Los Alamos Canyon.
If you're coming back down Quemazon, and you're tired of being shaken around, there's a smoother option for the last half mile (just after the flat, sandy section, where the nature trail turns off.) Just turn left (north) and follow the singletrack along the canyon edge. It's not exactly smooth - but it's not as rocky as Quemazon proper.
To see a trail log of the Quemazon, click here.
3. Quemazon Nature Trail Loop
Technical difficulty: 4
Physical difficulty: 3
Elevation gain/loss: ~300 feet over .7 miles
100% singletrack
An even more difficult section of trail. If you can clean lower Quemazon, give this bad boy a try. This is the BEST sustained technical downhill in the county -nothing else comes close. You'll be picking lines down steep, big rocks the entire time. If you don't feel solid on the main Quemazon trail, don't even think about trying the nature trail. Watch out for hikers.
4. Quemazon Rim
Technical difficulty: 5-
Physical difficulty: 3-
Elevation gain/loss: climbs 500 feet over 1 mile
100% singletrack
The most difficult trail in Los Alamos. I'm not sure if some sections are possible, but have the sneaking suspicion that some trials boy or girl is gonna clean it someday. Requires herculean leg strength, perfect balance and a bit of courage. Seldom ridden, and never cleaned in either direction, to my knowledge. Starts from the Quemazon parking lot and follows a singletrack southwest until hitting the canyon rim, then follows the rim to join nature trail at the top. It'd be pretty cool to actually create a rim trail that went all the way up the canyon, but would also be a significant effort.
5. Bayo Canyon Trails
Technical difficulty: 2- to 4-
Physical difficulty: 3
Elevation gain/loss: mostly flat
mostly singletrack, some doubletrack
A cool playground. Access Bajo canyon any number of ways, and mess around on the trails. The rutted trails leading down on the north and south sides of the canyon are fun technical tests. There are probably a good 10-15 miles of singletrack in the canyon.
6. Rendija Canyon Trails
Technical difficulty: 3+
Physical difficulty: 3
Elevation gain/loss: ?
60% singletrack, 40% doubletrack
Fun short trails, some neat downhills. The main trail leads from the Cemetary, down Rendija canyon, and then turns right (south) and heads uphill to the canyon rim. Cabra and the Pajarito trail both join Rendija canyon at their downhill ends. Due to recent dry weather, some of the doubletrack sections are becoming increasingly sandy.
7. Arizona Firebreak Trails
Technical difficulty: 2-3
Physical difficulty: 2+
Elevation gain/loss: ~200 feet over 2 miles
100% singletrack
More fun short trails, which leave from the Cemetary housing developments. Links to North Community trail. If you stay on the left forks when heading uphill (west) you'll avoid the technical sections encountered on the righthand trails. This is a GREAT downhill, super fast, with lots of water bars for jumping.
8. Pueblo Canyon Trails
Technical difficulty: 3+
Physical difficulty: 2
Elevation gain/loss: ?
100% singletrack
Mostly on the South side of Pueblo canyon, and also in the bottom. There are LOTS of trails here, you can explore most of them on your own. I'll just describe one option. The trail enters the canyon at the LA Aquatic Center. Head northeast from the parking lot and go through a fence, then down a steep trail to a shelf. Ride the rightmost trail option and head eastwards. The trail will drop all the way into the bottom of the canyon, and then you can either keep going east to join with Bayo canyon, or head up a steep dirt road towards the Golf Course.
9. Golf Course/Denver Steels Area Trails
Technical difficulty: 3-
Physical difficulty: 2
Elevation gain/loss: pretty flat
100% singletrack
Fun play trails that aren't too technical. Starting at the Denver Steels' playlot, the main trail leads northeast, across the pedestrian bridge, and to the Golf Course. A splinter trail follows the "back 9" of the Golf course for 3/4 of a mile, to 37th St. and Diamond. These trails also connect with the Pueblo canyon trails to the South.
10. Kwage Mesa Trail/Road
Technical difficulty: 2+
Physical difficulty: 2-
Elevation gain/loss: ~100 feet over 2 miles
40% singletrack, 60% dirt road
A singletrack that loops with a dirt road, leading from the rodeo grounds to the end of North mesa. Fun, flat riding with some slickrock and some sand. The trails lead east from the LA County rodeo grounds, and they're pretty easy to find.
11. Cemetary Road
Technical difficulty: 2
Physical difficulty: 3
Elevation gain/loss: steep, but no net gain or loss. ~3 miles
100% (rough) dirt road
Leads from the Cemetary to Guaje Canyon. Pretty rutted and bumpy, making it more fun than most dirt roads.
12. Girl Scout Camp Trail
Technical difficulty: 4-
Physical difficulty: 2-
Elevation gain/loss: ~200 feet over .5 miles
100% singletrack.
Very difficult, seldom-used, and short section of singletrack that leads from the old DOE building on Trinity to the bottom of Los Alamos canyon. Fun downhill, absolutely stupid hard (unridable?) up. Doesn't loop with anything fun, unfortunately.
13. Mitchell Trail
Technical difficulty: 4
Physical difficulty: 4
Elevation gain/loss: climbs 2000 feet over ~4 miles
100% singletrack
This trail departs from the trailhead at Pinocchio park, near Arizona street. Head northwest and uphill on the technical trail (stay left at the first 2 intersections) and when you come to a third intersection, you've got a choice to make. You can turn left and do a super fun downhill that will deposit you back where you started, or you can turn right and try to ride the absolutely brutal switchbacks (some of which are probably unridable) uphill. The downhill option can be linked with the Arizona firebreak trail and the Rendija Canyon trails to make a super fun, fairly long, and mostly downhill ride (of course, then you have to get back to where you started from.)