Welcome to:
San Juan County, New Mexico
Etched over millions of years, in the Northwest-Four Corners Region of New Mexico sits a geologic wonderland for gravel cyclists to explore.
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Introduction
The Four Corners region of northwest New Mexico boasts phenomenal off-road adventure riding. San Juan County offers a plethora of route options that expose cyclists to a dynamic regional landscape filled with hoodoos, arches, and other unique natural and fossil features—including rare dinosaur bones—that tell stories of the past.
San Juan County’s status as a gravel-adventure destination has been millions of years in the making. Natural layers of dirt and rock have created a desert canvas with miles of roads and trails to explore. The rides here lead to amazing vistas under blue skies, and solitary overnights below a star-studded cosmos.
For generations, rich cosmic traditions have been a part of the San Juan Basin’s people and communities. Hózhó is a Navajo concept that represents the importance of harmony, balance, and beauty in the universe. In a world of modern distractions, San Juan County is a destination for adventure cyclists to connect with the natural world.
Welcome
San Juan County is pleased to share a Gravel Adventure Field Guide that curates and organizes a number of routes utilizing an extensive network of roads through county and public lands.
Over the last several years, communities across San Juan County, New Mexico, have devoted resources toward developing bicycle-related infrastructure and improving access to surrounding public lands. This commitment is increasing the quality of life of Four Corners region residents, while giving visitors more reason to enjoy the recreational opportunities in the San Juan Basin.
This Gravel Adventure Field Guide showcases an abundant inventory of gravel roads in an effort to expose off-road cyclists to those hidden pockets of San Juan County that are uniquely accessible on a bicycle. Add the cultural heritage of the region, and you’ll see why the Four Corners region ranks high for adventure. With the San Juan Basin’s landscape as a backdrop, these gravel routes will take you on a journey through time, as well as inspire curiosity and wonderment.
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Road Origins
In order to fully appreciate a San Juan Basin road-origin story, one must first study Earth’s geologic history. The rhythmic cycles of sun, wind, and water were integral in producing the trails and roads that complemented the landforms left behind over time. These processes eventually influenced curious humans to explore both on the surface of and below the Four Corners region.
Geologic Layers Over Time
The San Juan Basin evolved over billions of years. The foundation is formed by Precambrian rocks, upon which later sedimentary layers were deposited. During the Paleozoic Era, the region was part of a shallow marine environment. Lower layers of limestone, sandstone, and shale were deposited during this time.
By the Mesozoic Era, the San Juan Basin had become part of the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea that covered a significant portion of North America. This period saw the addition of thick layers of sandstone and shale sediment, foundational to forming the area’s coal, oil, and natural-gas reserves.
The Late Cretaceous period brought deposits of Dakota Sandstone and Mancos Shale, which are tied to hydrocarbon resources. Dakota Sandstone is porous and permeable, allowing hydrocarbons to accumulate and be extracted. Essentially, it’s a reservoir for oil and natural gas.
Dakota Sandstone is a significant stratigraphic unit because it marks the transition from older, non-marine deposits below marine environments overlaid by Mancos Shale. Geologists focus on this unit when seeking to better understand the San Juan Basin’s natural history. Mancos Shale is a thick marine shale that is both a source of and seal for hydrocarbons; within it, organic material produces oil and natural-gas reserves. However, unlike Dakota Sandstone, shale holds low permeability—it traps hydrocarbons and prevents them from reaching the surface.
A later era of mountain-building, known as the Laramide orogeny, produced tectonic activity that caused the uplift of the surrounding San Juan Mountains to the north and Chuska Mountains in the west. These events created the structural depression that is the San Juan Basin. Additionally, a series of folding and faulting layers throughout the basin caused the oil and gas to be held within the Earth.
During the Cenozoic Era, incremental erosion and sedimentation saw the accumulation of added sediment. Regional volcanic activity mixed in ash and other materials; over time, these layers compacted into the thick sequences of sedimentary rock visible today on the roads. A combination of tectonic forces, sedimentation, and erosion ultimately led to the desert moonscape that now inspires adventurous humans to explore and catalog.
Trails & Road Development
Ancient Pueblo people in the 11th century built a network of roads still visible from the air. The roads’ purpose was to connect them to sacred places, outlying sites, communities, and Chaco Canyon in southern San Juan County. The Chaco people possessed distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that were interpreted through their architecture, including their roads. A peculiar practice saw roads precisely aligned and running long distances without adapting to variations in the landscape, and sometimes using sharp turns instead of gentle curves. The roads were built 20-plus feet wide, and even excavated to a smooth, level surface.
The Great North Road was an Ancestral Puebloan road that linked the San Juan Basin north to south, from Kutz Canyon to Chaco Canyon. Archaeologists have determined some sites along it to be ancient way stations. Certain road segments even have low masonry features that are speculated to be curbs. Another feature are herraduras, three-foot-tall, horseshoe-shaped masonry walls with diameters of 10 to 30 feet. These were placed on berms or hills near the road, and usually oriented to open eastward. Some archaeologists think these features indicate changes in road direction.
As across much of the western United States, the eventual arrival and expansion of the European presence was made possible through adoption of the existing Indigenous road and trail networks. Spanish explorers and merchants used them to pursue trade and extend settlement. In 1829, Antonio Armijo led a caravan of 60 men and 100 mules across the San Juan Basin from New Mexico, to California. It became the Old Spanish Trail (1821–1849), and was labeled the longest, crookedest, most arduous pack-mule route in United States history.
After the United States acquired the Southwest in 1848, industrialization initiated demand for natural resource extraction activities in the San Juan Basin. In 1922, the first commercial oil well was drilled near Aztec. This sparked expansion of the county road network as oil, and later natural-gas, sites were developed. Roads built in the San Juan Basin helped make it one of the most productive regions for natural-resource extraction in the United States.
Aztec
Farmington
Farmington
Aztec’s recorded history began with the arrival of the Spanish friars Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante in 1776. They sought an overland route from New Mexico to California. While unsuccessful, they opened up the San Juan Basin to other explorers and settlers.
Aztec was established in 1887 as a trading post, with the early settlers initiating farming and ranching activities. In 1905, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad completed a line between Aztec and Durango, enabling the town to ship agricultural products, cattle, and sheep.
In 1901, the first oil field test was conducted east of Aztec. None was found when drilling to a depth of 1,700 feet. Later, renewed exploration efforts had success at 985 feet for oil, and at 1,750 feet for natural gas. Aztec was the first town in the region to develop natural gas for domestic and commercial use in New Mexico.
Aztec borders public land, which makes it an ideal starting point for exploring dirt roads and trails, such as the Alien Run and Mountain View trail systems.
Farmington
Farmington
Farmington
As its name denotes, the city’s origins (July 15, 1901) are rooted in agriculture. The Spanish settled eastern San Juan County in the early 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1870s that the community saw significant population growth. Its location at the confluence of the La Plata, Animas, and San Juan rivers contributed to farming and ranching. By the 1900s, apples had become a significant crop, with varieties like Jonathan, Delicious, Grimes, Golden, Rome Beauty, and Winesap all cultivated and exported.
Farmington experienced iterations of the twentieth-century oil-and-gas boom-and-bust cycle. Consequently, Farmington is broadening its economic base to become a commerce hub in the Four Corners region.
The goal of the city is to improve outdoor-recreation infrastructure, and then leverage it to attract businesses and diversify the economy. Notable projects include the construction of river-access points, off-road trails, signage, and bike lanes. Gravel cyclists will find Farmington’s access to trails and roads appealing, as well as enjoy its four-season weather.
Bloomfield
Bloomfield
Bloomfield
As Spanish explorer and trader activity on the Old Spanish Trail increased, it encouraged settlement around Bloomfield (Naabí’ani in the Navajo language). By the 1870s, farming and ranching had become prevalent, and contributed to the town’s unique blend of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures.
The 1950s saw a wave of oil-and-gas exploration and development. Today, Bloomfield provides convenient outdoor recreation access to Navajo Lake State Park, Angel Peak Scenic Area, Salmon Ruins and Heritage Park, Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
Kirtland
Bloomfield
Bloomfield
Situated in a fertile valley along the San Juan River, this agricultural community was founded in 1877. Contributing to Kirtland’s development in the nineteenth century were Mormon settlers, who implemented forward-thinking agricultural designs and practices, including an irrigation system to deliver water to fruit orchards and fields of alfalfa and corn.
Similar to other San Juan County communities, Kirtland experienced economic growth in relation to the energy industry in the middle twentieth century.
Scan & Ride Interactive GPS Maps
ridewithgps.com/app
Start navigating and recording your ride on the Ride with GPS app with just a single tap, or get spoken turn-by-turn directions for your routes using the signature voice navigation feature. No data? No problem! You can download routes to navigate while offline and record rides without a data connection. The GPX file is also available for your cycling computer/head-unit.
On the following gravel route pages, scan the QR code with your smart phone to land on our digital route page, making it easy, safe, and fun for cyclists to go on great rides.
We encourage people to get outside, reconnect with nature, and embark on two-wheeled adventures. The Ride with GPS mission is to build a global community of riders who create and share routes, discover new adventures, and go on better rides, more often.
An Integral Watershed Within the State of New Mexico
The Flow of Water Through the San Juan Basin
Water is the most precious natural resource in the arid state of
New Mexico. This is why the health of the San Juan Basin Watershed is vital to the state’s overall well-being. More than 60 percent of New Mexico’s surface water flows through the basin, with the San Juan River as one of the most important waterways here.
Since the times of the early inhabitants, water supply in the San Juan Basin has been regulated. Evidence of ancient irrigation canals points to cooperation amongst prehistoric residents to conserve water resources. Dams and manmade channels diverted water for irrigation and domestic needs.
The Spanish, who arrived in the sixteenth century, introduced European ditch-irrigation technology and a legal system of water control that ultimately influenced policy post–New Mexico statehood (1912). Currently, stored spring runoff is used during the high-demand period of late summer and the low flow of winter. This stored supply ensures there is enough water throughout the year for municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes, in addition to flood control, recreation, and hydroelectric power.
Cosmic Chronicles
Gravel X-Files: San Juan County
San Juan County has two prominent UFO incidents—one in Aztec, the other in Farmington—that add to the cosmic and existential question, Are we alone in the universe?
A story was published in Variety Magazine by the author Frank Scully. In this story, Scully claimed that, in March 1948, the U.S. military had recovered a 99-foot-diameter saucer in Hart Canyon, northeast of Aztec. This made it the largest reported UFO to date. Two individuals were identified as Scully’s sources, Newton and Gebaur, who told him that the military had arrived and removed the craft for the purpose of secret research. The author went on to describe the craft as operating on “magnetic principles,” with its every dimension divisible by nine. The mathematician and science writer Martin Gardner criticized the story sharply, citing it as full of “wild imaginings.”
The Farmington Armada incident, on March 18, 1950, has been harder to label a practical joke due to the number of witnesses, and the investigated news story. Those who beheld it claimed they saw a square-looking formation of orbs in the sky over several days. The orbs were seen by people throughout San Juan County, and as far away as southeastern New Mexico.
The Wonder of San Juan County
Aztec Ruins National Monument & Chaco Culture Historical Park
Prior to the arrival of the European settlers, there’s been a fascination about and curiosity for the ancient past that infuses San Juan County. Prehistoric epochs left behind fossils for Indigenous people to encounter, and their architectural structures were in turn studied by others. Paleontologists have studied life, while archaeologists have studied the human culture and societies of the San Juan Basin at Aztec Ruins National Monument and Chaco Culture Historical Park.
Fossils discovered in the San Juan Basin have played an important role in advancing scientific knowledge about plants, dinosaurs, and early mammals. Encased within the layers of the basin’s dirt is evidence that has let scientists understand the transitions between various geologic eras. This includes the K-T Boundary, which marks the point at which a mass extinction event eliminated the dinosaurs. The San Juan Basin has helped scientists learn more about the environmental changes that took place during this pivotal era.
When Friar Escalante first arrived in the 1700s, he connected the ancient ruins along the Animas River to the Aztec culture of Mexico; this is how the town of Aztec got its name. In the nineteenth century, archaeologists began to identify and associate large ruins with the Ancestral Puebloans, along with their descendants. By the twentieth century, archaeology had moved from amateurism to a disciplined academic practice. The Society for American Archaeology and the National Geographic Society supported excavations that uncovered great houses, kivas, and thousands of artifacts. All of this study increased knowledge about the significance of the Chaco Culture in the San Juan Basin and beyond.