La Tierra Chili Line Trail

Sep 21, 2020 | Trails

View of the route of the Chili Line northwest of downtown Santa Fe by Matthew Wagoner (click on image to enlarge)

The La Tierra Chili Line Trail is finally happening!  We have received clearance from the City’s Archaeological Review Committee to develop a 1/4-mile rail-to-trail on the historic “Denver & Rio Grande Railroad” railbed in La Tierra Trails, along with a 1/8-mile access trail to the rest of the hiking and biking trails at “Junction 22,” on the driveway to Buckman Motocross Track.

Thanks to generous contributions from the following organizations, we will be able to work with City Parks to build gates to provide access to the Chili Line trail for hikers and bicyclists, fences to protect it from motorized users, and signage to provide guidance and historic interpretation:

West end of future La Tierra Chili Line Trail

To supplement this base we have recently applied for state matching funds from the NM Outdoor Recreation Division’s “Infrastructure and Small Projects Fund.”

If you would like to add to the fund, we may be able to build a small wooden footbridge and a replica wooden box culvert to restore the original rail grade and add to the unique experience that trail users will have on this historic alignment.

To help out, please donate here – DONATE

Conceptual view of trail with replica wooden culvert by Matthew Wagoner

As presented, and visited, during last year’s New Mexico Railroad History Celebration, this trail is intended to serve as a GUSTO demonstration project to inspire development of other natural-surface rail trails in the Santa Fe area and throughout northern New Mexico.  For more information on rails-to-trails in our state, see https://nmrailstotrails.org.

For an update on our work on the Chili Line, see https://sfct.org/trail-work-on-the-la-tierra-chili-line-fall-2020.

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