La Cueva

The La Cueva trail is the main trail in this system. It's about 8 miles long and starts out pretty mellow winding through the desert outside of Carlsbad, NM before beginning to climb up into the limestone hills. The center portion of the trail has some technical and loose singletrack and some tight turns. There are a couple of bail-out points at the halfway mark (farthest from the parking lot). Just past the halfway point (going in a counter-clockwise direction) you'll top out at the highest point and then be rewarded with some fun singletrack downhill. The southernmost portion of the trail winds through a clayey flat which is fun if it's dry (otherwise like riding through pudding). I typically take the turnoff at Poquito Mas Trail and link into Runaway Trail for some more technical singletrack descents.

Click here for a PDF map of the area.