South Boundary Trail Shuttle

Although the trail rips and we run shuttles from snow-melt to snow-fall, the best time of year to ride this trail is hands-down the middle of September through the middle of October. During this time, the aspen leaves are positively popping.

Not at all! We shuttle backpackers, trail runners, through-hikers, and dog walkers.

Taking on the full ~22 miles of the South Boundary Trail from Forest Road 76 is not for novices. You should be a strong intermediate or advanced rider or runner and have a solid background of experience traveling in remote mountainous terrain.

For mountain bikers, the average time is about 5.5 hours. The fastest known time is 1:33 held by local pro racing legend Macky Franklin — we don’t recommend that approach. Don’t be ashamed if it takes you upwards of 8 hours. Pack your lunch, wipe your camera smudges, and stop to enjoy the wildflowers.

The Garcia Park route is more ‘user friendly.’ You get to sleep in a little, and you only have one real climb on your 13-mile ride. The average ride time is about 2.5 hours.

This is a cross-country single-track trail interspersed with a few double-track roads. Most of the descent is in the final 2.5 miles of the trail which is straight-up downhill style riding.

We recommend a cross-country bike, trail bike, or enduro bike. However, we also take plenty of downhill bikes thanks to folks visiting Angel Fire Bike Park whose wrists need a breather from the downhill beater.

While the trail does criss-cross some two-track, and at times you may be tempted by another route, it is fairly burned in and should be obvious. An app like Trailforks or MTBProject will help keep you on track if you have questions. There are also markers every mile, so if you don’t see one of those for a while, you’ll know you’re off course.

No. Sorry, but the latest National Forest policy does not allow the use of e-bikes on non-motorized trails.

Yes! The timing works well for those who want to split their group. More ambitious riders can take the 8 am shuttle and ride to meet the second wave at Garcia Park coming up on the later shuttle.

The South Boundary Trail loses most of its elevation in the last 5 miles, with the steepest of those being the last 3 miles called the “El Nogal” section.

For those less experienced riders — or if you’ve had any trouble with what you rode up to the “log drop” at the Ojitos trail — we recommend taking the Ojitos descent instead of the El Nogal technical downhill descent. Ask your shuttle driver for details.

All shuttles pick up at the El Nogal Trailhead, aka, the end of the South Boundary Trail on Highway 64, three miles east of Taos in the Taos Canyon. It’s a darn busy lot on weekends so we strongly recommend carpooling. Half of the lot ends up with shade and the other scorching with the sun. But, either way, please do not leave your pups in the car while you ride.

No. Campers can go up the canyon a quarter mile to two small USFS campgrounds between the road and the river. There are usually vacant lots unless it’s a holiday. You can ride from these campgrounds to El Nogal along the nearly non-existent shoulder – just a skip and a jump. But please be careful, the canyon is tight.

There is no potable water on the trail. Cell service is spotty at best (Verizon is most consistent, but still bad). There are few bail-out trails, but each is long and steep back to the highway. In short, you should be self-sufficient, and able to handle almost any emergency / technical situation.

Having never ridden with you, your partner, or your kid, that’s impossible for us to answer as we don’t know your skill level, route-finding skills, or even general level of confidence in the back-country. The South Boundary Trail is a remote trail, generally considered intermediate with some expert sections (all of which you can walk around).