Given my mixed feelings about the Instagram platform, I try, with limited success it would seem, to ‘back up’ my posts over there to this blog over here, with additional info, photos, and gpx files. It looks like I’m way, way behind… But it’s better to start somewhere than go nowhere, right?

So, here’s a rewind to our last days in New Mexico earlier this month, in which I was thrilled we found time to spend a night on the Caja del Rio, and re-ride the fabulous and rambunctious Soda Springs trail. It’s hard to believe that I first bikepacked on this plateau almost a decade ago, and despite how close and accessible it is to the bright lights of Santa Fe city, every trip I’ve made there never fails to captivate my heart and soul.

Emma’s friend Sadie made the long journey from Utah to meet up with us. The last time we all rode together was in Oaxaca, when we climbed and feasted and sweated our way up into the Sierra Norte, to the Pueblos Mancomunados, with Huesos trotting along in tow. As ever, the Emma and Sadie cut quite the look aboard their stylish rigs for this New Mexican excursion… bright ponchos flapping, big smiles beaming, and morning caffeinated eyes gleaming!

And, as ever, the Caja regaled us with its theatrical, stormy winter skies, its roughly sculpted doubletrack and shape-shifting singletrack – complete with babyheads, toddlerheads, and infantheads – and the ever-gentleness of its sagebrush light. We rode and pushed and scampered our way around this classic loop, cracking open pinion shells with our teeth, and dipping fingers into the Rio Grande. Pure NM vibes!

Our route looped us around to Diablo Canyon, from where we followed the Spanish Camino Real, which itself traces hunting and trading routes established long before European invaders encroached on this land… back when turquoise, obsidian, and feathers were the currencies of the day, earthly tokens that remain visible today. Whimsically tying our two trips with Sadie together, the Camino Real once ran all the way to Oaxaca; its path is the backbone for many of our valley rides, including the ones the three of us enjoyed together last year.

Camping on the quiet and empty Caja is always an elixir for modern life and its stresses. From our tarp, we gazed into a starry light show above the Jemez mountains, a range that Emma and I traversed early in the summer. Admiring them from this perspective brought back memories of faint forest doubletrack, of mushroom and wild strawberry foraging, of hummingbird moths and butterflies, and of monsoon hailstorms and hot springs. Oh, New Mexico, you… What a place!

Two peas in a (Megamidian) pod.

Hi viz and high vibes!

The many moods of the Caja del Rio, a plateau criss crossed by gravel roads, doubletrack, and the very faintest of trails…

Dropping down towards the Rio Grande is a white knuckled affair, via the infamous Soda Springs trail, a hurly burly singletrack that sums up New Mexico in a few short kilometres.

Beneath the gloves, the knuckles are white.

I rode my LWB Plus, the first in a series of bikes in what’s become something of a Jones obsession. Emma is loving her steel Esker Japhy, and her bikepacking setup is especially dialed too. Meanwhile, this was Sadie’s inaugural ride on her titanium Why Cycles, which she’d just purchased second hand. Read more about all these bikes below!

Classic Caja terrain in the leadup to Soda Springs. Plus classic flora too, like delicious pinion treats, flowering cholla, swathes of sagebrush, and the cutest little hedgehog cactus

Exiting Diablo Canyon via the Camino Real. High fives all round!

The Extra Stuff (aka some bike nerdery)

Emma’s Esker Japhy: Size small, steel, purple, with a Tumbleweed Mini Pannier Rack, MLD Poco Loco Panniers (massive capacity for the weight), Oveja Negra framebag (borrowed from Sage until she makes her own), and a Tailfin front roll (super easy to remove, and full of nifty pockets).

My Jones LWB Plus: Size L, Rohloff goodness, with a Tailfin proto rear bag and 16L panniers, plus an Old Man Mountain basket and a dry bag, for squishing sleeping bags and cold weather gear, and then quickly reverting to around town use. 29 x 3.25 Crux Duro up front ironing out babyheads (as it were).

Sadie’s (new to her) Why Cycles, size S, Revelate Designs framebag, and peep that fun Fishski stem bag! Sadie was wearing a backpack as well, until she procures the necessary through axle to run her Tailfin Aeropack.

Same pictures as above… but you can make these ones bigger!

After a cog and oil change, I’m thrilled to have my Rohloff up and running again!

The Route

We cheated a little and drove out to Caja, so we could car camp the first night and hang out. Otherwise, you can easily ride from town, mostly on bike paths, some frontage road, and a bit of gravel. It bookends the ride nicely – I recommend meeting at Counter Culture for pre/post ride coffee, food, and great vibes.

A while back, Sage and I joined Eric and family for a campout on Chino Mesa, also on the Caja plateau. We rode from Counter Culture, in fact, so you can peep a possible route from town here:

For more on that particular adventure, plus details of some of my favourite spots in Santa Fe, have a read of this post on Bikepacking.com.

And, I first wrote up an overnighter on the Caja del Rio, also over on Bikepacking.com. It needs an update now that the Camino Real has been reinstated… but it’s a fun way to mix in public transport and petroglyphs! You can find it here.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, any questions, fire away!