Click to Register at NMOHVA Site! 

• NM4WThe information below is for event attendees with full size 4x4 vehicles.
• Motorcycle/ATV/UTV attendees see NMOHVA for meet information.

UPDATE May 15, 2019: All 4X4 Drivers will meet at 8:30AM on the Loop Road outside the KOA Campground, 1/2mi South of I-40 Exit 81.  We will have a full weekend Drivers Meeting and announcement of available trails for each day.  Not all 7 Trails rides will be offered all three days.

Registration for the event is only $50.00, which includes dinner on Saturday evening and event stickers. (One of these stickers will need to be applied to your vehicle during the event per forest service permit requirements.) All funds above event costs will go directly to NMOHVA's Access Defense Fund. The Access Defense Fund is used to protect and preserve all modes of motorized recreation and access in New Mexico. These events are NMOHVA's primary source of fundraising.

The New Mexico Off Highway Vehicle Alliance (NMOHVA) is proud to announce our first ever "Multi-Modal" riding event featuring riding opportunities for all of our members - 4WD vehicles, ATV/UTV/SxS's, and dual sport motorcycles.  This event will be held in Grants, New Mexico on May 31-June 2, 2019.  Grants is a very motorized recreation-friendly community and offers outstanding riding opportunities on nearby Mt. Taylor and in the Zuni Mountains that will be "new" to many of our members and the larger riding community.

This is a fund raising event.  All event proceeds above the costs to produce this event will go directly to NMOHVA's Access Defense Fund.  The Access Defense Fund is used to protect and preserve motorized recreation and access in New Mexico.

All three days of the event will feature excellent off highway riding on a variety of roads and motorized trails.  Mount Taylor offers high altitude (11,000 foot plus!) alpine scenery, outstanding vistas, and unforgettable riding.  The Zuni Mountains offer a rich logging, railroad, and mining history with many remaining relics and ruins amidst the pines, aspens, and lush green meadows.  Ride leaders will be available for all three modes and will offer rides with a variety of challenge, length, and destinations.  We are tapping the expertise of the NMOHVA member clubs New Mexico 4 Wheelers to lead the 4WD truck/Jeep rides and Red Rock Motorsports to lead the ATV/UTV/SxS rides. 

Grants Lodging Information

Proposed Trail list Subject to change  This listing is for the full-size 4WD/Jeeps only!  See NMOHVA directly for Information on routes for motorcycles, ATVs and SxS.

Here are seven trails to show off the Mt. Taylor, El Malpais and the Zuni Mountains.

	Route Name	Trail Rating
1	Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway
2	Railroads Lava and Mines
3	Mount Sedgwick
4	Mount Taylor Tour
5	Canyon Rinconada Overlook
6	McKenzie Ridge
7	Zuni Hardcore Playground

Area History

History buffs might find this document about the time of the steam logging railroad in the Zuni Mountains interesting.  Additionally, there are many old mining sites scattered about the Zuni Mountains. 

MINING HISTORY AND PRODUCTION

Downloaded from: http://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/64

The Zuni, Acoma, and Navajo people have lived, traveled, and hunted throughout the Zuni Mountains for centuries. Native Americans recovered obsidian (eroded from the Mt. Taylor region), basalt, turquoise, malachite, and azurite for ornaments and stone tools. Fluorite also may have been used by the Zunis for decorative ornaments (Lindgren et al., 1910; Oakes et al., 2006; Zamora, 2008).

Base and precious metals were found in the Zuni Mountains circa 1900 and at least one metals mill was built in the district. Total reported production from the district amounts to more than 30,000 lbs copper, 260 oz silver, and 2 oz gold from 1923 to 1965 (Table 1); additional copper, gold, and silver production probably occurred during the late 1800s.

Fluorite was discovered about 1908. A fluorite mill-concentrator was constructed in the 1910s, but was destroyed by fire in 1927 (Lasky and Wootton, 1933). in 1943, the Zuni Milling Co. (formerly Navajo Fluorspar Mines) opened a fluorspar mill in Los Lunas, where fluorite mined from the Zuni Mountains was processed. The lack of water and electricity prevented a mill from being built in the Zuni Mountains. The Los Lunas mill had a capacity of 100 short tons/day and could yield a 98% concentrate at 165 mesh (Kutnewsky, 1944). Chemical (93% fluorite), ceramic (95%) and metallurgical (85%) grades were shipped from the mill (Warner, 1947). in 1944, the mill increased its capacity, making it the third largest fluorite mill in the U.S. at the time (Kutnewsky, 1944; Messenger, 1979).  Fluorite has a wide variety of uses. The primary uses are in the metallurgical, ceramics, and chemical industries; however, optical, lapidary, and other uses are also important. It is used mainly in the chemical industry to manufacture hydrofluoric acid (HF).

Other production has come from the Zuni Mountains (Table 2). In 1961-1962, U.S. Sericite produced 10 short tons of flake mica, worth approximately $255. An unknown amount of limestone and volcanic cinder also has been produced from the Zuni Mountains. Iron ore was found and prospected during WW II; production, if any, is unknown.

TABLE 1. Reported metals production from the Zuni Mountains mining district, Cibola County (from U.S. Geological Survey, 1902-1927; U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1927-1990); McLemore, 1989; NMBGMR file data). Production data can change as better data are obtained.— no reported production. W withheld or not available.

TABLE 2.  additional mineral production from the Zuni Mountains (Goddard, 1966; McLemore et al., 1986).

The Bonita Flurospar Mine -  Grants, New Mexico (2015 Blogger Post)