New Mexico Tourism Guide for the Motorcycle Touring Enthusiast Weather Wise

Billy the Kid Trail

Follow this byway through the rugged beauty of the million-acre Lincoln National Forest. From grassy plains to dense pine forests, the region is known for its stunning views and cool mountain climate. Visit historic Lincoln, once home to outlaw Billy the Kid and lawman Pat Garrett.

El Camino Real

Cultures along El Camino Real De Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road of the Interior Land), are as diverse as its history and scenery. Pueblos reveal artisans crafting wares using centuries-old methods. The route, first traveled by Don Juan de Onate in 1598, provided news, supplies, and travel to the first capital of the New World.

Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway

Immerse yourself in the Apaches' history and the hot mineral springs used by Geronimo and his warriors. Visit the historic mining towns that flourished and died with the gold and silver fortunes. From desert lakes to forested mountains, the Geronimo Trail captures the spirit of freedom and independence.

Historic Route 66 (New Mexico, Illinois, Arizona)

The charm, the history, and the atmosphere that make up "The Mother Road" brings travelers from all over the world to experience America the way it should be experienced - down a stretch of highway where "anything goes" is literal.

Jemez Mountain Trail

Jemez Mountain Trail takes you through time, past amazing geological formations, ancient Indian ruins, and an Indian pueblo. The area is rich in logging, mining and ranching heritage. Sites include Jemez State Monument, Bandelier National Monument, Soda Dam, Cabezon, Battleship Rock, and the Spence and Jemez Mountain Hot Springs.

Santa Fe Trail (New Mexico, Colorado)

One of America's first great trade routes, the Santa Fe Trail was critical to our country's westward expansion. Visit historic sites and landmarks like Bent's Fort, Trinidad, Raton Pass, Cimarron, Fort Union, Pecos, Point of Rocks, and Santa Fe. Enjoy spectacular scenery, from rugged mountains to the plains.

Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway

The Trail of the Mountain Spirits beckons. Go where the spirits of miners, homesteaders, Indians, Spanish explorers, and mountain men have left their marks. Cross the Continental Divide, experience the wild Gila River, walk amongst the ruins of ancients to sense life before history, and hear the sounds of solitude.

Turquoise Trail

Believed to be an ancient path, Turquoise Trail travels between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The natural geological formations found here are like nowhere else on Earth. See nature up-close in the Cibola National Forest and Sandia Mountain Wilderness Area. Appreciate the distinctive, artistic communities of Madrid and Los Cerrillos.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Aztec Ruins National Monument - Aztec, NM
Aztec Ruins North Wall  Follow ancient passageways to a distant time. Explore West Ruin, a center of ancestral Pueblo society that once housed over 500 masonry rooms. Look up and see original timbers holding up the roof. Search for the fingerprints of ancient workers in the stucco walls. Listen for an echo of ritual drums in the reconstructed "Great Kiva." Adventure into the past.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Bandelier National Monument - Los Alamos, NM
The Ancestral Pueblo Village of Tuyonyi built around 1400 AD  CLOSURES On snowy days the park may have a delayed opening, please call (505-672-3861 x 517) before attempting to visit. Current Visitor Center Hours 9 AM - 430 PM Frijoles Canyon, Tsankawi Open from 8 AM - 5 PM Other Park Areas including cross-country ski trails open sunrise to sunset   

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Capulin Volcano National Monument - Capulin, NM
color photo of capulin volcano with entrance sign  Mammoths, giant bison, and short-faced bears witnessed the earthquakes and firework-like explosions which hurled molten rock thousands of feet into the air. Approximately 60,000 years ago, the rain of cooling cinders formed Capulin Volcano, a nearly perfectly-shaped cinder cone, rising more than 1000 feet above the surrounding landscape.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Carlsbad Caverns National Park - Carlsbad, NM
Carlsbad Caverns' remote backcountry.  As you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas—filled with prickly pear, chollas, sotols and agaves—you might never guess there are more than 300 known caves beneath the surface. The park contains 113 of these caves, formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, creating some of the largest caves in North America.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Chaco Culture National Historical Park - Nageezi, NM
Photo of Pueblo Pintado  Due to emergency repairs campsites will be reduced to 35 sites total until further notice! Please have alternative plans if the campground is full. Chaco Canyon was a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.  More...

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - El Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historic Trail - Santa Fe, NM,TX,LA
A Spanish colonial home and interior courtyard at Casa Navarro State Historic Site in Texas  ¡Hola! Bienvenidos al Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail. Come on a journey that will carry you through 300 years of Texas and Louisiana frontier settlement and development.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail - NM,TX
Painted American and Mexican flags with M for Mesilla, New Mexico  Take a journey on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail to savor 300 years of heritage and culture in the Southwest.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -El Malpais National Monument - Grants, NM
Views from atop cinder cones are well worth the hike!  El Malpais means the badlands but this volcanic area holds many surprises. Lava flows, cinder cones, pressure ridges and complex lava tubes dominate the landscape. A closer look reveals high desert environments where animals and plants thrive. Prehistoric ruins, ancient cairns, rock structures, and homesteads remind us of past times. Visitors need to be prepared for exploring this rugged place.

N ew Mexico Motorcycle Touring - El Morro National Monument - Ramah, NM
El Morro looms above the surrounding landscape  A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a sandstone bluff made El Morro (the headland) a popular campsite. Ancestral Puebloans and Spanish and American travelers carved over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs for hundreds of years. We invite you to make El Morro a stopping point during your travels.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring - Fort Union National Monument - Watrous, NM
Mechanics Corral  Fort Union was established in 1851 as the guardian of the Santa Fe Trail. During its forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together. The third Fort Union was the largest in the American Southwest, and functioned as a military garrison, territorial arsenal, and military supply depot for the southwest. The largest visible network of Santa Fe Trail ruts can be seen here.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument - Silver City, NM
Gila Cliff Dwellings  Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse into the homes and lives of the Mogollon people who lived in this area over 700 years ago.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -Pecos National Historical P ark - Pecos, NM
Fog over Rowe Mesa  Pecos preserves 12,000 years of history including the ancient pueblo of Pecos, Colonial Missions, Santa Fe Trail sites, 20th century ranch history of Forked Lightning Ranch, and the site of the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass. For several centuries the Upper Pecos Valley has been one of those rare places where the impact of geography on human experience is strikingly clear. 

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -Petroglyph National Monument - Albuquerque, NM
Shield Petroglyphs on volcanic rock  Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources including volcanos, archeological sites and an estimated 20,000 carved images. Many of the images are recognizable as animals, people, brands and crosses; others are more complex. These images are inseparable from the cultural landscape, the spirits of the people who created, and who appreciate them.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument - Mountainair, NM
Quarai Mission  Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th-century Spanish Franciscans visited the area and found it ripe for their missionary efforts. However by 1677 the entire Salinas District, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard alike.

New Mexico Motorcycle Touring -White Sands National Monument - Alamogordo, NM
dune scenic  Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals.