A memorable road trip to Green Mountain in NM

Green Mountain is a high mountain peak at an elevation of 3.407m (11,177ft) above the sea level, located in Colfax County, in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The road to the summit is an old logging road and is not well maintained. It’s one of the highest mountain roads of New Mexico.

Green Mountain

Located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico, the road to the summit is totally unpaved. It’s called Green Mountain Summit Road. It’s totally impassable in winters, often until July 4th or later. During the summer, the road is very rough and has loose rock in some places. In the winter, the road is not plowed.

The summit is crowned with many cell towers. The switchbacks are very tight. The trail is narrow with few places for passing so meeting someone can be a challenge. Keep an eye on the weather for thunderstorms and lightning. The road goes all the way to the summit. In order to drive this road up, you need a high clearance vehicle. The trail is very steep. Starting from US-64, the ascent is 5.1 miles (8,2km) long. Over this distance the elevation gain is 861 meters and the average gradient is 10.5%, with sections up to 14%.