The Biggest Juniper Tree in New Mexico
One of the highlights of camping by Fort Bayard near Silver City, New Mexico was the extensive network of awesome high desert mountain biking trails nearby which I took full advantage of for the two weeks I was there. Miles and miles of endless riding, with the trails all connecting to each other, a great area for mountain biking with no shortage of different routes and loops that could be found.
Not too steep for pretty easy uphill riding, but plenty steep enough for sustained high speed crushing downhill. Lots of good views as well, with Twin Sisters peak seen below.
The trailhead for the Big Tree trail was also in close proximity, from which it was only 2.5 miles to the biggest juniper tree in all of New Mexico, a sight I just had to see for myself.
I had been made aware of this natural wonder beforehand, when I read an article on this hike in a a local paper which I was browsing through before using it as fire-starter at a previous campsite. So I had chosen this campsite partly for this reason, and fully intending to take advantage of its close proximity to this trail. The large juniper trees at my campsite were already the largest juniper trees I had ever seen, so I was excited to see just how much bigger the biggest one in the state was.
Not wasting any time, I decided to make this trip the first bike ride in the area, and headed up the day after I arrived, which by now was about a month ago, in late March. It was probably a little over a mile bike ride up the dirt road from my campsite to the trailhead, and then another 2.5 miles to the Big Tree as it is called, both a very scenic and fun bike ride. There were several small spring-fed creeks to cross on the way up, a unique and unusual desert sight.
Dakota was loving it, and greatly appreciated the abundance of water along the way, stopping for a drink at each crossing. There were also some amazing views along the way.
As we continued on our way, I was beginning to wonder how there could be such a massive juniper tree up here, as I hadn’t seen even a single one nearly as big as all the ones down by my campsite, and we were nearly there!
But as we neared our destination, there were a few larger juniper trees, and then we crossed a bigger creek and passed through a grove of mature cottonwood trees, making me realize the reason this tree had grown so big was its close proximity to this creek.
And then we came upon the trail taking us off the main trail to the tree, and just like that, there it was standing tall all alone as the only juniper in the immediate area, just a stone’s throw from the creek.
There was a large wooden fence built around it with an entryway, and a nice little picnic area under the shade of the surrounding cottonwoods right next to this giant juniper and the creek. A very pretty area to stop and rest for a while, and take in the beauty.
The tree trunk was so large in diameter that it would take at least three and maybe four people with arms linked to wrap around it, by my calculations. I took a picture of Dakota sitting near its base just to be able to demonstrate its enormity in a photograph.
You never know what unknown sights you’ll see or historic areas you’ll visit that you had never even heard of, when traveling the country. I certainly never thought I’d be visiting the biggest juniper tree in New Mexico, but it was a fun trip and definitely a sight worth seeing.