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North Foothills / Elena Gallegos Open Space
Mountain Biking Trail
Hard
9.74 mi
1,085 ft
Albuquerque's town trails deliver beautiful views and entertaining singletrack.
The North Foothills area includes the Elena Gallegos Open Space, and the trails in this network comprise some of the best and most easily-accessible singletrack in the Albuquerque region. Serving a population of almost a million people, you can expect to encounter traffic on these trails… but that shouldn’t dissuade you. This singletrack is well-worth a rip!
Most people begin from the Ellena Gallegos trailhead, although you can enter the network from a variety of access points. To follow the route mapped here, begin on the obvious, wide trail that threads a narrow path between the houses and the Wilderness boundary.
Eventually, the trail leads into a broader and more expansive trail system, with a variety of trail options. The route mapped here maximizes the mileage through the network without spending a lot of time doubling back.
While the original access trail, and the trail as it begins in the main network, is quite wide and boring, after a few miles the trail tread narrows down considerably into beautiful singletrack. The singletrack begins to take more entertaining lines through the hills, contouring along the hillsides, dropping down into ravines and flying back up the other sides. The trail gets progressively rockier, with rock gardens, drops, and up-and-overs demanding attention and adept bike handling.
Once at the far side of the system, all the climbing you’ve been doing finally pays off! The trail turns downward, bombing down the hillside toward the edge of town. The descent is conveniently the most technical portion of trail, with chundery rock gardens, significant ledge drops, jumps, and fast straightaways—a mountain biker’s dream! It’s over all too quickly, but this sweet descent prompts some riders to pedal back up and repeat it a few times.
Heading back along the lower edge of the system, the singletrack maintains its technical character for several miles, providing entertaining, rocky cross country pedaling. As on the way out, the closer it gets to the main trailhead, the easier the trail character gets until it returns to the smooth, overly-maintained access trail.
North Foothills is ultra-popular, but that popularity is well-earned. If you choose your time wisely, you can avoid most of the crowds and enjoy a fantastic romp through these convenient and enjoyable trails!
Written by Greg Heil
The North Foothills area includes the Elena Gallegos Open Space, and the trails in this network comprise some of the best and most easily-accessible singletrack in the Albuquerque region. Serving a population of almost a million people, you can expect to encounter traffic on these trails… but that shouldn’t dissuade you. This singletrack is well-worth a rip!
Most people begin from the Ellena Gallegos trailhead, although you can enter the network from a variety of access points. To follow the route mapped here, begin on the obvious, wide trail that threads a narrow path between the houses and the Wilderness boundary.
Eventually, the trail leads into a broader and more expansive trail system, with a variety of trail options. The route mapped here maximizes the mileage through the network without spending a lot of time doubling back.
While the original access trail, and the trail as it begins in the main network, is quite wide and boring, after a few miles the trail tread narrows down considerably into beautiful singletrack. The singletrack begins to take more entertaining lines through the hills, contouring along the hillsides, dropping down into ravines and flying back up the other sides. The trail gets progressively rockier, with rock gardens, drops, and up-and-overs demanding attention and adept bike handling.
Once at the far side of the system, all the climbing you’ve been doing finally pays off! The trail turns downward, bombing down the hillside toward the edge of town. The descent is conveniently the most technical portion of trail, with chundery rock gardens, significant ledge drops, jumps, and fast straightaways—a mountain biker’s dream! It’s over all too quickly, but this sweet descent prompts some riders to pedal back up and repeat it a few times.
Heading back along the lower edge of the system, the singletrack maintains its technical character for several miles, providing entertaining, rocky cross country pedaling. As on the way out, the closer it gets to the main trailhead, the easier the trail character gets until it returns to the smooth, overly-maintained access trail.
North Foothills is ultra-popular, but that popularity is well-earned. If you choose your time wisely, you can avoid most of the crowds and enjoy a fantastic romp through these convenient and enjoyable trails!
Written by Greg Heil
Route and Elevation
Segments
| Name | Distance | Elev. Diff. | Avg. Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| EmbudPino 230 to 505 | 5.45 mi | 499 ft | 1.0% |
| The Crash Site | 0.22 mi | -59 ft | -4.7% |
| Swervy Sidewinder | 0.27 mi | 39 ft | 2.1% |
| up that steep thang | 0.34 mi | 128 ft | 7.1% |
| Standard Elena | 7.20 mi | -420 ft | -0.1% |
| Fence/Big DH/Fast Rocky Climb/Gravel Road | 0.30 mi | -30 ft | -0.5% |
| Gravel Road to Cement Blocks | 0.18 mi | -62 ft | -6.3% |
| First Down | 0.10 mi | -46 ft | -8.8% |
| Fork To Fork | 0.50 mi | 92 ft | 3.4% |
| Dirt Climb to Pino sign | 0.95 mi | 269 ft | 5.3% |
| First Climb | 0.23 mi | 79 ft | 6.4% |
| Fork To Bench | 0.34 mi | 56 ft | 3.0% |
| Post to top of Pino | 0.40 mi | 161 ft | 7.5% |
| Slalom DH W/ Reroute | 0.89 mi | -154 ft | -3.2% |
| Elena Extra chunky w/ Jam | 3.33 mi | -407 ft | -2.1% |
| Short | 0.08 mi | -46 ft | -10.4% |
| Elena Slalom | 0.43 mi | -105 ft | -4.4% |
| Elena Slalom DH | 0.39 mi | -167 ft | -8.0% |
| Half Elena | 0.23 mi | -79 ft | -6.3% |
| Elena Rocks - MTC Trail w Rocky DH | 1.00 mi | -190 ft | -1.0% |
| DBack Trailhead ---> Rockwall Climb | 0.44 mi | 131 ft | 5.2% |
| DBack Trail up to double down | 0.32 mi | 118 ft | 6.8% |
| Rocky Arroyo | 0.13 mi | 39 ft | 4.4% |
| Semi DH | 0.24 mi | -108 ft | -8.2% |
| Rocky DH | 0.45 mi | -226 ft | -9.5% |
| Nelly Belly | 0.21 mi | -89 ft | -7.5% |
| Elena Low, North to South | 2.79 mi | -154 ft | -0.7% |
| Rock It Short III | 0.68 mi | -92 ft | -2.2% |
| Hip Check | 0.19 mi | -20 ft | -1.6% |
| Rock it - Elena low trail | 1.33 mi | -115 ft | -1.2% |
| Chupacabra | 0.40 mi | -75 ft | -3.4% |
| End of rock garden to post | 2.03 mi | -69 ft | -0.4% |
| Brad's Gulch to Simms Park Rd | 0.33 mi | 36 ft | 2.0% |
| Sprint | 0.10 mi | 39 ft | 6.1% |
| 365 Simms to Dirt Rd | 1.02 mi | 66 ft | 0.2% |
| Corner Short | 0.32 mi | -30 ft | -1.3% |
| Corner practice | 0.46 mi | -49 ft | -2.0% |
| Elena's ripping corners - Simms to Embudito | 2.57 mi | -194 ft | -0.8% |
| Push It | 0.45 mi | -36 ft | -1.4% |
| Jamaican Bobsled | 0.50 mi | -43 ft | -1.2% |
| BIG WATTS | 0.20 mi | 39 ft | 3.6% |
| Double Dippers | 0.23 mi | 16 ft | 0.0% |
| Fast Finish on Elena Gallegos | 1.69 mi | -194 ft | -1.4% |
| GDO Stage 7 | 0.75 mi | -171 ft | -3.9% |
| Downhill to Embudito trailehead | 1.09 mi | -157 ft | -1.8% |
| Post To Double Dippers | 0.39 mi | -105 ft | -5.0% |
| EMBUDITOdowndowndown | 0.57 mi | -148 ft | -4.9% |
| Embudito ☠ Rollers | 0.30 mi | -72 ft | -4.6% |
| Embudito End | 0.44 mi | 75 ft | 2.4% |
| Reverse Crash Site | 0.26 mi | 69 ft | 4.8% |