The Clifton Alpine Loop is located in Southeast Arizona and Southwest New Mexico. This route is listed as a 2 day ride because in its entirety, the ride time alone is almost 8 hours. While this is certainly possible, we prefer a more leisurely pace, so we split this into 2 single day rides.
This ride starts in Clifton, Arizona and quickly passes through Morenci, home to one of the largest copper mines in the world. As soon as riders get past the mine, this ride starts to twist through the canyon and climb up the switchbacks to the Chase Creek Overlook.
The twists and turns keep coming until eventually the steep and sharp hills become more gentle and rolling. The road changes to more gentle curves and the forest gives way to grasslands and shrubs for a short distance before becoming twisty once again. After another good stretch of twisties, the road straightens out somewhat for the rest of the trip into Alpine, Arizona.
Leaving Alpine, this route quickly crosses into New Mexico and through a fun little canyon on the way to Luna, New Mexico. From Luna, riders weaves through the hills and valleys for a load of fun twisties until eventually it straightens out a bit in the valley, but it's not long before the twisties are back.
On this leg, there are two side trips included; one is a trip up a twisty canyon to the Ghost town of Mongollon. The other side trip is to the Catwalk Recreation Area which has incredible scenery and great hiking areas.
After Catwalk Recreation Area, it’s a short ride on some more amazing twisties, back to the starting point at Clifton.
Location: Southeast Arizona, Southwest New Mexico
Approximate Mileage: 250 miles
Estimated Riding Time: 8 Hours
Surface: Paved
Attractions:
- Buckhorn, NM - Leopold Vista Picnic Area
- Reserve, NM - Heifer Basin Overlook
- Mogollon, NM - Mogollon Ghost Town
- Clifton, AZ - Coronado Trail Parking, HL Saddle Picnic Area, Arrow Tree, Chase Creek Overlook, Sardine Saddle Picnic Area, Blue Vista Outlook
- Glenwood, NM - Catwalk Recreation Area
Motorcycle Rides, Arizona, New Mexico, Clifton, Morenci, Alpine, Luna, Mongollon, Mule Creek
Clifton Alpine Loop
If you are riding with a group, we ask that every person using our route for navigation purchase their own copy.
In order to encourage this, we are happy to offer a discount for group purchases. Please contact us after purchasing 1 item at full price, and we will set up a coupon code that will give everyone in your group 50% off of the same item.
Our digital routes are designed to operate in most GPS devices. In addition to GPSs, our routes should work with several smartphone apps. They will NOT work on Google Maps or Apple Maps.
If you plan on using a smartphone app, we recommend the REVER app. REVER will work with both Android and iOS and in addition to navigation it has many other great features.
For best results in REVER, download the route to your computer first, then import into your smartphone. Turn by turn may not work, so we recommend that you utilize the "Follow the Line" option.
You can get 20% off your first year’s subscription to REVER by following THIS LINK.
AND using this coupon code at checkout: Driftlessforless.
By using this link and coupon code a portion of your subscription fee will go to support Driftless Roads USA.