We headed to the hills southeast of downtown Taos to sample the Talpa Trail. Since the guide book showed this route as mostly singletrack skirting the hillside above town, we wanted to give it a shot. The run started up a steep abandoned jeep road before accessing the Talpa trailhead around .7 mile up. It was another awesome day and we were in for a great run on a roller-coaster trail.
The trail was pretty much normal fare for the desert running we have done: very rocky, in and out of many arroyos - steep down then right back up, and lots of winding through pinyon, juniper, and cactus. The singletrack was mostly narrow and twisty which always keeps you on your toes and not looking too far ahead!
We saw three people the entire time we were out today - 1 hiker and 2 horse riders - nothing like having the trail all to yourselves! All of the trails we sampled in Taos were in great condition and the trail users definitely do not abuse their land, which was very nice to see.
One of the open views to Taos Mountain along the trail.
Here we are powering up the last climb out to the road -
almost downhill from here!!! This was a great desert run and another 8 miles of sweet trail running in fine, high-altitude sunshine - good times!!!
The trail was pretty much normal fare for the desert running we have done: very rocky, in and out of many arroyos - steep down then right back up, and lots of winding through pinyon, juniper, and cactus. The singletrack was mostly narrow and twisty which always keeps you on your toes and not looking too far ahead!
We saw three people the entire time we were out today - 1 hiker and 2 horse riders - nothing like having the trail all to yourselves! All of the trails we sampled in Taos were in great condition and the trail users definitely do not abuse their land, which was very nice to see.
One of the open views to Taos Mountain along the trail.
Here we are powering up the last climb out to the road - almost downhill from here!!! This was a great desert run and another 8 miles of sweet trail running in fine, high-altitude sunshine - good times!!!
