Robledo Loop

Located at the northern tip of the Chihuahuan Desert, the rugged and beautiful Southern Robledo Mountains are home to the 100th active U.S. National Monument, the Prehistoric Trackways. Robledo Loop is the trail that provides access to most of the area's trails, whether they be for hiking, fossil hunting, or offroading. A full range of what the Monument offers are found along this trail - amazing 360-degree vistas of the Rio Grande Valley and surrounding desert, tall hills, low-lying arroyo bottoms, and access to the many trails in the Robledo Mountains OHV Trail System. Just four short miles northwest of Las Cruces, this network of trails, including extreme OHV and mountain bike trails, is easy to get to and close to all of the conveniences and services of a modern city. The OHV areas here are separate from the Monument's sensitive fossilized trackway, and motorized vehicle travel is only permitted on designated trails and roads. Official trail signage is well placed and frequent, so it's easy to spot. The Monument includes a major deposit of Paleozoic Era fossilized footprint megatrackways containing footprints of numerous amphibians, reptiles, and insects (including previously unknown species), plants, and petrified wood dating back 280 million years.