NM: Farmington - Road Apple Rally

 Before scooting out of Durango I asked Jack, one of my hosts for the weekend, if there were any good, easy, trails to ride around Farmington, NM. I had ridden the Alien Run trails near Aztec a couple of times and really enjoy those, but I wanted something new.

He recommended the Road Apple Rally trails. Kind of a funny, awkward name, but I was intrigued. He told me not to miss the Wild Bill trail. That was all I needed, find an easy access trailhead and ride to Wild Bill.

The Kinsey Trailhead was a straight shot off NM516. Perfect.

There were a few cars parked at the pullout. It was warm, hovering around 85º, but felt nice. I was looking to do no more than two hours since I still had a 6 1/2 hour drive home.

As soon as I began the trail split, with a sign on the right indicating 'Enter'. There were two trails paralleling each other and it seemed like the right side took you out and the left side brought you back. It's always nice to not worry about oncoming traffic.

Hard packed clay with some light sand made for a fast track.

The Kinsey trail hugged the small mesa above the desert.

So far, this was exactly the ride I was looking for. Fast, fun and minimal effort.

Some history too.

My initial thought was how it reminded me of Phil's World outside of Cortez, CO. Very similar terrain, maybe a bit less twisty and less undulations.

I opted for a little detour, taking the Seven Sisters trail.

Seven Sisters dropped off the mesa and was ripping fast. The one fella I saw head out just before me, came around a blind turn at speed and thankfully we both had enough time to swerve a bit else that could've ended badly. I was quickly reminded I was no longer on the one-way trail I started on.

I went by a trail junction and decided to check Trailforks to see exactly where I was at. Good thing I did, as I should've taken the turn.

Making my way back to the mesa and a distinct Badlands feeling.

The final push up to the mesa was ridiculously steep as footing was dicey. Not knowing the trails, I'm sure there's a better way up there.

The beginning of Wild Bill. It's hard to read, but the bottom rung reads: Keep it Wild. That statement raised my expectations.

Looking back from the Wild Bill junction, the San Juan Mtns. look small from here.

It was a tamed Bill to start...

Oh, wow!! Looks like a mini Red Bull Rampage!! Ha!

This bit reminded me of the Zippity Do Dah trail in Fruita, CO. I was excited to ride it now that I have a dropper post.

There were a few steep rollers and a couple of small drops leading in. Super fun!!

Looking back at what I rode down.

I came across another rider here, I was clearly going the wrong way, but needed to get back to the top of the mesa.

There were a few more slippery grades I had to climb, at least there were fun sections to ride in between. I eventually gained the top and made my way back to the top of Wild Bill.

The Whoops. Another fun, grin inducing rip. 

The Whoops led me here: Rigor Mortis which would take me back to the Kinsey trailhead.

This sign reminded me of a certain Red Rock Chica. Haha.

The fun continued all the way back to the car.

What a fun trail system. With a little more time I could probably do a route that would eliminate the couple of trails I rode the wrong direction. There are plenty of dirt roads in the area as this is oil country. Well played, Farmington. I'll be back. Put this one on your list if you're passing through the area as it's easy to access and you can simply do a quick hour spin. I ended up being out there for two hours, but had a couple of short wrong turns and needed to check navigation a few times in spite of the signage, which was good.

Flyover via Ayvri.com

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