Finding solitude in New Mexico’s Ojito Wilderness

From my perch atop a toadstool-shaped sandstone hoodoo, I’m gazing at a cluster of wavy, pink- and yellow-striated rock formations. Here, meditating on a pocket of geologic psychedelia in northern New Mexico’s Ojito Wilderness, I feel a deep sense of peace. There’s solitude here, yet I’m only an hour away from the clamor of downtown Albuquerque.

The surreal rock formations are similar to those in locales like northern Arizona’s famed Coyote Buttes (a.k.a. “The Wave”) and New Mexico’s Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area, but on a far smaller scale.

At just under 12,000 acres, the Ojito Wilderness is one of the state’s smallest Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas. What it lacks in size, though, this high-desert tapestry of starkly beautiful badlands, mesas, and mountains more than makes up for with excellent hiking and mountain biking opportunities. Not to mention the fun of discovering a place that many New Mexicans overlook.

Because all the trails, including the mountain biking tracks of the White Ridge Bike Trails Area, are fully exposed and offer little shade from the punishing summer sun, they’re best biked or hiked in late fall through early spring. So on a crisp October weekday, my girlfriend, Joni, and I drive about 21 miles northwest of Bernalillo to a turnoff for Cabezon Road (CR 906), a regularly maintained dirt road that leads to the mountain biking area and Ojito’s hiking trailheads.

Ojito has just 2 established hiking and horseback riding trails, each with minimal elevation gain. The rock-star attraction is the 3.3-mile round-trip Hoodoo Trail, which winds past cholla, piñon, and juniper, and skirts colorful petrified sand dunes and a modest yet striking amber-tinted sandstone formation resembling the bow of a ship half-sunk in the desert sand.

Spotting a group of hoodoos ahead, I quicken my pace and leave Joni in the dust. “Hey, wait for me!” she shouts. “The rocks aren’t going anywhere!” I swiftly climb to a cluster of smooth, yellow Dakota sandstone formations banded with delicate, wavy layers of pastel pink. Joni quickly forgives my eagerness when she sidles up next to me and sees the beautiful view.

Continuing another half mile or so, we arrive at a group of tall tepee-shaped hoodoos crowned with dark caprocks. The abstract geologic remains of an inland sea that covered the Ojito millions of years ago, these hoodoos stand among green ponderosa pines—a rarity in such an arid climate.

Farther along, the Hoodoo Trail effectively ends overlooking the vast desert wilderness, the distant Jemez Mountains, and the distinct profile of a volcanic plug (or “neck”) named Cabezon Peak, which rises 7,798 feet from the desert floor.

A 1-mile drive east of the Hoodoo Trailhead is the 2.2-mile round-trip Seismosaurus Trail, named for a massive Jurassic-period dinosaur whose fossilized bones were discovered in this area in 1979. A skeletal replica of this estimated 110-foot-long behemoth, one of the largest dinosaur fossils ever found, is on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque.

While the sometimes-rocky path lacks the Hoodoo Trail’s geologic wow factor, the trail’s end yields a well-preserved collection of ancient Native American petroglyphs. Pecked into the dark iron-stained surface of a flat-topped sandstone cliff ledge, figures of turtles, frogs, snakes, and Zia-like sun symbols set the foreground stage for sweeping views of Ojito’s badlands, arroyos, mountains, and mesas.

While not in the Ojito Wilderness itself, the White Ridge Bike Trails Area shares the same dirt access road. Here, some 9.5 miles of trails traverse the multihued badlands. Though the trails are also open to hikers and equestrians, this is chiefly a mountain biking destination, and one not well known outside of northern New Mexico’s biking community.

“The trails are far away from pretty much everything except the village of San Ysidro and Jemez Pueblo, so they are really nobody’s daily ride,” says Dylan Rose-Coss, vice president of the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society, when I speak with him on the phone a few days after my hiking adventure.

Rose-Coss learned of the trails, best suited for intermediate and advanced riders, when he was an undergrad in the University of New Mexico’s geology program, which includes regular class field trips to the Ojito area.

Rose-Coss loves a couple of trails here. “While the Dragon’s Back Trail is a real crowd-pleaser because of the sweeping vistas and otherworldly conditions riding on weathering white gypsum, it’s also not particularly technical,” he says. “My favorite is climbing past the travertine springs on the Good Times Trail. The large mounds created by what is essentially thousands of years of hard-water buildup are forebodingly steep but provide ample tackiness to tractor up the grades.”

The Spanish word ojito means “little eye.” But it’s with big, wide-eyed wonder that Joni and I have connected with this wilderness that was set aside for federal protection in 2005.

Back on the dirt road heading home, I realize that we haven’t encountered another soul since leaving the highway pavement hours earlier. And I’m reminded of an oft-quoted passage from Southwest nature writer Terry Tempest Williams’ 1991 book, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place:

If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self.  

Eli Ellison is a Santa Fe–based travel and outdoors writer.

The Ojito Wilderness is about 1 hour from downtown Albuquerque and 90 minutes from Santa Fe. From Interstate 25, take the US 550 exit in Bernalillo, drive northwest for 21 miles, and turn west (left) on Cabezon Road (CR 906). This maintained dirt/gravel road is normally passable in a passenger car in dry conditions.

Following heavy rain and/or snow, a high-clearance all-wheel drive vehicle is highly recommended. From US 550, it’s about 5 miles along the dirt road to the White Ridge Bike Trails Area, 10 miles to the Seismosaurus Trail parking lot, and 11 miles to the Hoodoo Trail parking lot.

There are no restroom facilities or water sources in the wilderness, so carry all the water you’ll need. Be sure your vehicle is in good running order because cellphone service can be spotty and you may not encounter another person during your visit.

Be aware that when you’re driving on Cabezon Road, you may hear and/or see recreational firearms related to stationary target practice on the surrounding BLM lands. Though the sound of gunfire can be disconcerting to some visitors, shooting is not permitted in the wilderness area and you typically won’t hear it on the hiking trails.

Once your hiking or biking mission is accomplished, celebrate with an ice-cold beer or cocktail and tasty pub grub (don’t miss the birria beef–stuffed quesadilla) at Bosque North Brewery and Taproom (in Bernalillo on US 550, near Interstate 25), which has sports on TV and an outdoor dining deck.

Primitive camping is permitted in the Ojito Wilderness. About 19 miles north of the Ojito Wilderness turnoff from US 550, the tiny mountain town of Jemez Springs is known for its natural hot spring soaking pools. Intimate Cañon del Rio Inn & Spa has 8 rooms situated on 3 gorgeous acres near the Jemez River. Rates start at $159.