Quemazon Trail

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Quemazon Trail
Length: 1.1 mile
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
Parking: At Trailhead
Used by: All users
Use: Heavy
Connecting Trails: Pipeline Road
Narrative: The Quemazon Trail is a historic route that offered shepherds, loggers, and homesteaders a crossing of the Sierra de los Valles to the Valle Grande. The route is shown on maps dating from around 1900, and it still bears the deep ruts carved by logging sleds in the early part of the 20st century. The route is currently a popular recreational trail for hikers and mountain bikers. The lowermost mile of the trail is on the Western Perimeter Tract and managed by Los Alamos County; the remaining two miles of trail is on the Santa Fe National Forest.

The trailhead is located off Trinity Drive in the Western Area of Los Alamos. The main branch of the trail follows a utility access road for the first quarter mile. Other trail branches split off to the left and offer a more scenic alternative to the road. A gate protects the road from vehicle traffic at the point where the Quemazon Nature Trail bears to the left. The rutted road climbs steeply, often on bedrock. Just before the western firebreak, the trail enters the national forest.

The Quemazon Trail has a durable bedrock surface that protects it from many potential problems.

Trail Adopter: Pajarito Group of the Sierra Club