Trip Report
Bikepack - Bikepack the Monumental Loop in New Mexico
The Monumental Loop is an awesome and challenging route! We did the North Loop in 3 days and began the South Loop but could not complete it as it was cut short abruptly by a serious accident.
Emma Agosta
- Thu, Mar 20, 2025 — Sun, Mar 30, 2025
- Bikepack - Bikepack the Monumental Loop in New Mexico
- Bikepack the Monumental Loop in New Mexico
- Bikepacking & Global Adventures
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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While most of this route is rideable and very enjoyable, a sizeble portion of this route (at least 4-5 miles) require hike-a-bike and/or expert mountain bike skills. Loose coarse chunky and angular rocks make riding these sections very technical and potentially dangerous. Some short but deep sandy sections require very wide tires (2.4+, better with 2.8 inches) to be passable. Again, hike-a-bike may be required for some. Would NOT reccomend this route to gravel bikes and/or any bike with less than 2.4 inches tires. Mountain bike with front sospention and wide tired very reccomended.
Each day we rode we recorded elevation gain is significantly higher than what stated in the bikepacking.com route description and in the ride with GPS routes.
In late March we encountered temperature exceeding the March average by 10 degrees F. We hit the high 80's every day and mid-nineties even one day. We coped relatively well with the heat but had to carry water up to 5.5 liters each which made our bikes heavier. All camps were dry for us as the water cache we had made on the North loop 1 were further than camp. We never reached it to the two water caches we had made for the South Loop due to our trips being cut short.
I would reccomend earlier March or late February if prepared for freezing temps at night.
We were pretty lucky with the wind only encountering a day of strong winds up to 25mph. The previous week the area experienced severe windstorms and dust storms with winds up to 80 mph. Other riders we encountered on the route reported staying in their tent in a culvert for 18 hours and also very deep sand in an area that we did not get to ride due to having to cut the trip short.
After a lovely and easy shake down ride around Las Cruces and Mesilla on day 0 we started the North Loop on March 22.
North Loop (March 22-24).
Day 1 Las Cruces to Coyote Camp. 39.3 mi and 1857 gain.
Left Las Cruces around 8:15 AM and rode through downtown and the farmer’s market and therough irrigation canals to exit town and join the beautiful singletrack trails of the Dona Ana system. These were stunningly beautiful and not very technical but took some energy and time our of our day. A powerline road took us back to the Rio Grande Trail (an irrigation canal dirt road) and through Radium Springs. Here we had a pit stop at Blue Moom Grill, an awesome self-proclaimed “modern dive bar” which was actually a pretty nice restaurant and bar with live music. Music would start later but we refilled all our water bottles (all of us were carrying 5.5 + liters each) and bought a take-out dinner to carry to our designated dispersed site in the mountains, some 9 miles away. The next 9 miles took us 3.5 hours due to steep loose gravel climbs and descents and a lot of required hike-a bike under very hot temps. We arrived at camp right before sunset after a 10 hour day and enjoyed a well-deserved take-out dinner and a quiet rest time as the sky changed into all sorts of pink and purple hues.
Day 2 Coyote Canyon Camp to White Gap- Upper Las Uvas camp. 45.4 and 2900 ft gain.
We woke up earlier today and left camp by 7 AM today after fixing a flat caused by a rock puncture. We had to add some “bacon” to my tire as the rock extraction has caused a significant puncture that the sealant in my tubeless tires could not fix by itself. The first part of the day was pretty easy despite a significant climb but cool temps helped. A long descent took us back down to the Rio Grande Canals and quickly to Hatch, the Chile Capital of the World. This was a long stop for food and water re-supply. We had lunch at Sparky’s a local destination. The following 10 miles were on a busy highway, 26 and HOT with many rollers. Finally off the pavement we started the long and difficult climb to White Gap. We had ready horror stories about it and were prepared to have to hike 8 miles of it. In reality the unrideable hike-a-bike part was just about one mile uphill. It was very steep and loose though and we had to help one another in places to push our heavy bikes up to the pass. On the other side we were hoping for a fun descent but only Rachel with her mad mtb skills was able to carefully ride the first mile downhill. The rest of us had to push that mile downhill too. Luckily the planned campsite for the night was not too far away and we set camp just after sunset affording ourselves another spectacle of pink and purple skies. A 12 hour day!
Day 3 Upper Las Uvas Camp to KOA Journey Las Cruces. 33.2 mi and 1180 gain.
Left camp by 8 AM after dressing Gary’s painful blister caused by hike-a-biking in not so comfortable shoes. Ouch! Today was a much easier and shorter day (~7 hours) with a short loose climb taking us to our water cache at the beginning of a long section of paved road. Water was such a treat after another dry camp night and we all got our fill and more. The paved descent afterwards was fast and fun but we did get off the pavement soon enough for a beautiful gravel detour on the valley floor looking at distant mountains as well as the Las Uvas we had just descended from. Back on the pavement for a few miles and then into the Robledo Mountains which were very scenic with views of the Organ and Las Cruces below. A mostly downhill ridge traverse and descent got us a few miles from town and then a short section through a neighborhood got us to our KOA campsite for the next two nights. What a great place to arrive too and have cold drinks and ice cream. This evening we took an Uber to a nearby brewery for a great celebratory dinner.
Day 4 was a rest day at the lovely KOA cabins. This was truly the best KOA we ever stayed at! Everybody agreed! Beautiful facilities, great new bathrooms, everything sparkling clean really great place to rest in between the two loops. I strongly recommend it for anybody planning a layover between the two loops. On this day we took Ubers back to the van for resupplied which wasparked at the hotel we had stayed before and would day after the trip.
South Loop March 26
Day 5: Las Cruces KOA Journey to “almost” Playa con Dios camp. 32 mi, 1788 feet for me and Brian and much longer for the others.
We started the South Loop this Wednesday morning around 7 AM after a glorious sunrise. he first 15 miles went through the lovely historical town of Mesilla where we made a quick pastry stop and through paved streets in las Cruces and Mexico State University, then climbing towards the foothills of the Organ mountains.
Upon entering a section of singletrack trais, Gary noticed difficulty steering his bike and it seemed like there were some mechanical problems. We decided it was not safe for him to continue on the twisty long singletrack ahead and that it would be best to address the mechanical while still near town so we split the group and planned for him and Cathy to go to the bike shop and address the mechanical and reconvene at our designated camp spot for the evening following an different mostly paved route. We made sure to be in communication via in-Reach and phone if cell reception allowed.
The remaining 3 of us had a great time riding mostly singletrack trails and some connector dirt roads through the foothills of the Organ Mountains. The majority of the day we rode on the Sierra Vista trail, a mountain bike singletrack trail rated green-blue (beginner to intermediate difficulty based on the different websites we consulted). The accident happened at 3:45 PM on a relatively non-technical section of trail, with some loose gravel located only 6/10 of a mile before our designated campsite and rendezvous spot with the other two participants (who turned out had already set up camp). Brian's front wheel washed out on some loose rocks and he fell off his bike sideways landing face down on the adjacent left uphill slope. I was riding behind him and Rachel was riding in front of him. When I reached him seconds later, he was bleeding profusely from his nose and face and said he was injured badly while holding a bandanna to his nose and mouth. His bandanna and a second one were soaked with blood in seconds. I retrieved quickly a medical blood absorbing cloth from my first aid kit and we were able to stop the bleeding, but it was clear he had major face trauma with a large part of the skin above his lip cut and partly detached in a large flap. We immediately called 911 and gave them coordinates from Gaia and that initiated an emergency rescue. The first phone call was followed by a follow- up call where we described in more detail our location and gave them directions on how to reach us. Gaia showed us we were just 100 feet from a powerline road that was only 2.2 miles from a major unpaved road. It took the emergency response team about an hour and a half to reach us. The ambulance had to wait at the major dirt road about 2.5 miles away from where we were, but the EMT/firefighters were able to reach us by ATV and evacuating me and Brian to the ambulance and then they went back to get our two bikes and safely stored them for us at the fire station on the New Mexico University campus. In the meantime, Rachel rode the remaining 6/10 of a mile to the designated camp and reconnected with the other two participants. Their phones had no reception so my texts to them did not reach them until later. After a brief discussion they decided they did not want to continue the trip or stay the night out there so they rode back to town using the paved route.
Brian and I were taken to Mountain View hospital emergency room by ambulance. Before and during the ambulance ride he was checked over and given an electrolyte IV. We arrived at the hospital at 5:45 PM. The ER doctor found no signs of concussion. She still ordered CT scans. He was cleaned up, numbed and stitched. He ended up with a broken nose and a total of 11 stitches on the skin above left lip (which had come detached in a large flap), the left edge of his mouth and central upper lip and 2 skin glue sutures on upper nose and left eyebrow. CT scans were run on his head and neck, but no further injuries were found. His helmet never cracked, and it appeared that the entire impact of the fall was taken by his poor face. It was a long and stressful evening but ultimately Brian was discharged a little after 11 PM and prescribed pain medications (Ibuprofen) and antibiotics which we picked up the next day.
We are calling ourselves lucky that his injuries were not worse, but we are quite sad for Brian and bummed for the abrupt end of what had been thus far from an awesome trip.
The day after the accident we retrieved our bikes and picked up some medication for Brian, then we spent the rest of the day playing tourists in Las Cruces and Mesilla and making the best of our last day here. On the way out of town, our group visited White Sands National Park and had a fun half day together before heading in opposite directions, the long drive to Seattle for me and Brian and El Paso and the airport for Cathy, Gary and Rachel.
PHOTOS in these two facebook posts (public)
North Loop https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BLUspRUdq/
South Loop https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18hPUw6U8X/