New Mexico

From the rugged Rocky Mountains to the desert grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert, the CDT extends for 770 miles through New Mexico, a mosaic of azure skies, adobe architecture, ancient civilizations, “Wild West” desperados and red rock cliffs.

The CDT meanders through some of New Mexico’s most spectacular natural and historic landscapes: San Pedro Parks and Chama River Wildernesses with dramatic mountains, mesa tops and canyon lands made famous by Georgia O’Keefe, the Rio Puerco wild lands, thousand year old Zuni-Acoma trade routes, the El Malpais National Monument badlands: one of the nation’s best examples of recent volcanic landscapes, the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, the Gila Wilderness—our nation’s first—and ending at the Big Hatchet Mountains Wilderness Study Area, the stomping grounds of Geronimo.

New Mexico is home to the pike, pronghorn antelope, roadrunner, lizard, javelina and turkey vultures, as well as, pinon-juniper, ponderosa pine, cottonwood, aspen, mesquite, leafy aster, prickly pear, and yucca.

Trail Status—January 2009
Out of the estimated 770 miles of the CDT in New Mexico, 194 miles still need to be completed.

Trip Planning

Full New Mexico Trail line

Southern Terminus to Lordsburg section information

Carson National Forest section information

May 2008—Reminder to New Mexico CDT users
Please do not approach ranch homes for any reason. Frequent trespass by both hikers and illegal aliens have local ranchers and landowners in an aggravated state, and our BLM contacts advise us that further complaints from local landowners could lead to trail closures south of Lordsburg. Please use the information provided on the new BLM website to avoid trespassing on private property. The BLM is placing water cache boxes every 10-12 miles along the official route from the Southern Terminus to Lordsburg and plans to have these in place later this summer. While water cache boxes and other solutions are being put in place, caching water is the only way to safely make this hike. Contact the local BLM office at (575) 525-4300 for recommended locations. The BLM and CDTA are working to establish the groundwork for a CDNST-friendly trail community in Southern New Mexico and local landowners are key to these efforts. Please respect the rights of private property owners along the Trail.

May 2008— BLM CDNST Information Website

Major Access Points

Land Manager Contacts

Map List

Climate & Weather

Mail Drop Locations