There are a number of ways to reach the A Mountain trails but the simplest is being included below.
Directions: Take I-25 north or south to the University exit (Exit 1) in Las Cruces. Turn east on University Avenue and follow it until A Mountain is directly to your right. Once you reach the north side of the mountain, there are two areas where cars can be parked, the most popular being the second one as you go east.
Riding: This trail is pretty technical in spots and will require beginning riders to get off and walk. The trail tends to get peppered with rocks that can make the ride treacherous. Cactus appears at the side of the trail fairly often as well. Otherwise, it is a good workout and a lot of fun.
In addition to the singletrack, riders wanting serious training climb opportunities can climb the A Mountain road to the top. This is a short, but seriously challenging hill climb that provides excellent practice.
Riding clockwise: If you go clockwise (the hard way), follow the jeep trail east as it winds around the mountain and in general, keep turning right when you can and you will eventually circle back to the parking area. At one point you will pop out of a climb onto a dirt road covered in black stuff. This is the one place you turn left instead of right. One thing to note is that you will end up on a road that winds down the west face of A Mountain. Follow this road down until it curves away from the mountain. Shortly after this point, the continuation of the singletrack will appear on your right, where another road on your left intersects at a 90° angle. The singletrack turns into a switchback climb up the west face of the mountain, so you know you are going in the correct direction if you hit this.
Riding counter-clockwise: To ride counter-clockwise (the easy way), you need to climb the jeep trail straight up the north face and turn right onto the singletrack. From this point, keep turning left when you can and you will eventually circle back to the parking area. One thing to note is that after the switchbacks on the west side of the mountain, the singletrack lets out onto a road, you need to turn left on this road and follow it as it winds up toward the top of the mountain and take a right turn where the road surface turns to some black stuff and a couple rock piles appear on your right.
Riding: This trail is not really a beginner trail at the moment unless it is taken fairly slowly. Currently, the most enjoyable direction to take the trail from south to north and then back.
Take the singletrack down to the fence. At this point, riders can loop back by taking the jeep trail to their left back to Ladera Canyon Road which ends up at Soledad Canyon Road, not far from the trailhead. If you don't loop back, go through the fence and follow the road for a short way until you see the narrow, brown BLM sign on your right. You will encounter another short section of road again a bit later when the trail lets out onto the road with a sharp right turn. A short distance later, another narrow, brown BLM sign will appear on your right, signaling the continuation of the singletrack. Once you have reached the Mesquite area, the singletrack lets out onto the road again. Turn right and follow this road, taking the first 90° right turn. This will intersect with the Mesquite road and the singletrack continues directly to the south. If this intersection has a metal sign full of holes, you are at the right spot. If not, you probably missed the initial right turn, and need to turn right and ride a short distance to the shot-up metal sign.
Trail Work Directions: These directions are provided to indicate how to reach the current areas of trail work.
Alternatively, park on the Mesquite road and hike to the end of the trail.
Directions will be updated as the trail approaches the Vado area.
History: The existence of this trail is due primarily to the efforts of Mark Hakkila of the Las Cruces Field Office of the BLM. These are some of the people who have volunteered their time to work on the trail in some capacity:
Follow Rocky Acres back, keeping to your left. You should cross a cattle
guard. Follow the dirt road back until it opens into a bowl-shaped area. To
go any further you really need a 4x4. Park here.
Start the ride by going a few yards up the hill to the south and turn right to
locate the two, low water tanks. Keep on the road past the tanks while it
takes a sharp turn to the right and starts climbing the hill. Part way up the
hill the single track will appear on your right.
Follow the single track
until it hits a road and climb to the top of the hill. On your left you will
see a BLM sign that sits at the head of the trail. The rest of the trail is
singletrack and should be pretty clear about where it is going.
Riding: This trail is not for beginners. It tends to be hard work and technical in interesting ways. For experienced riders, it is almost all ridable, but it takes a lot of power to make it. It has a lot of switchbacks and short, intense climbs, and the end loops back onto the trail. It is approximately 6.5 miles one-way that feels more like 20 miles. There are spots where riders can get off the trail and take the jeep road back down, but this road is pretty technical itself, and can be a dangerous ride back. This trail is known for breaking equipment and injuring riders on a regular basis.
History: Here is a summary of the history of the trail sent to me by one of its founders, Shane Cunico. Around December 1997, Shane Cunico and Barry Stout got together with Mark Hakkila of BLM to establish an approved riding area in the Robledos. After going through the formalities, approval to mark the proposed trail was granted in January 1998. Following the requisite maps, public hearings, environmental and cultural assesments, final approval was granted and work started in April of 1998. Shane then persuaded (strong-armed) volunteers to help and today the trail stands at about 6.2 miles with over 400 man-hours invested. Some of the surviving volunteers are:
Barry Stout
James Chavez
Gabriele Trujillo
Mike Pinholster
Wayne Suggs
Kiki Suggs
Mike Kirsch
Steve Watts
Richard Santana
Marty Moriarity
Dave Million
George Navarro
Merril Kirsch
Dan Hendrickson
Jack Kirby
Ryan Kirby
Adam Irion
Directions: Take I-25 north to the Doña Ana exit, turn right at the stop sign, and take the first left. After a short paved section, this turns into a dirt road. Follow the road for about 3 miles and a parking area will appear on your left. This is where CJ's trail (the singletrack) basically begins.
Riding: The singletrack is fast, easy and fun until it gets to the two hills on the northwest side of the Doña Anas. Then the trail gets hard and technical. The portion of the trail that winds around the two hills is for experienced intermediate and advanced riders. Beginners can take the dirt roads that also go around the two hills.
History: Not yet available.
Riding: This is a very nice 9-mile singletrack on Armendaris Ranch were built almost single-handedly by William Brown. The trail has an interesting combination of fast, with rock steps up and down in many places, and a cool tight switchback climb system up one hill. This is a trail for intermediate to experienced riders, but beginners will find this a real workout.
Directions: Take I-10 north or south to the Redd Road exit on the northwest side of El Paso. Turn east and follow Redd Road until reaching a dead end.
Riding: Most of these trails are singletrack with a dash of old jeep road/two-track thrown in too. The map does a good job of pointing out the sections that should not be done by beginners. The rest of the trails tend to be a bit challenging to beginners and a good workout for intermediate riders.
There are several sections, listed on the map, which are very technical. In particular, beginners and intermediate riders should avoid doing "The Altar." It is easy to get seriously hurt on this section.
WARNING: Parts of these trails stray into Texas State Park land. If you on these sections and are stopped by a Park Ranger, you will be expected to pay $3 for a one-day pass or you need to carry the $25 yearly pass they sell.