|
Week 7
|
|
|
|
|
Start :
Grants, New Mexico, USA
Finish :
Antelope Wells, New Mexico, USA
Dates :
September 29th - Oct. 6th, 2022
Riding days :
7
Distance :
396 miles
|
|
|
|
From Grants to Pie Town, it’s
nearly 90 miles of extremely remote riding through a new
and strange world known as
El Malpais National Conservation
Area, Spanish for “The
Badlands”. The primeval black basalt terrain of El
Malpais was created by titanic volcanic forces over the
past million years. Molten lava spread out over the high
desert from dozens of eruptions to create cinder cones,
shield volcanoes, caves, and other eerie formations. Our
route follows a gravel road dotted with lava stones and
called the Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway.
|
|
|
After leaving the badlands it’s
still 32 miles to Pie Town
on a rolling dirt county road through open grasslands
and forests of piñon and juniper. Pie Town sits astride
the Continental Divide and is located almost 8,000 feet
above sea level. What was once just a nickname for this
small village with a bakery known for its apple pie,
eventually became the official town name. Yes, it’s
worth stopping and trying out the pie because for the
next 180 miles you won’t find a bakery, and definitely
not a pie.
|
|
The route from Pie Town to Silver City is intimately
connected to the Continental Divide, crossing back and
forth seven times over dirt and gravel roads. After the
Mangas Mountains,
it’s a straight shot south along the western side of the
Plains of San Agustin,
a barren dead-flat area that some believe was the site
of a UFO crash in 1947 so do not accept a lift from any
vehicle without wheels.
Before you become too accustomed to the flats, the route
returns into the mountains of the
Gila National Forest
which has some very demanding terrain with tough climbs
and steep serpentine descents. On the southern end of
the Gila Wilderness, you’ll ride atop the Continental
Divide for eight miles, before you turn right and finish
the stage near the serene
Roberts Lake.
Read more in the BROCHURE..
|
