The Tige Rim Trail provides a "scenic route" alternative to the more direct Bonanza Bill Trail into the eastern reaches of the Blue Range.
Tige Rim Trail (# 90) is open to hiking and horse use, but like all Wilderness and Primitive Area trails, all types of motorized and mechanized travel are prohibited.
The Tige Rim Trail keeps to the high ground crossing from Arizona into New Mexico and then back again as it wanders across this canyon carved landscape. The trail branches off the Bonanza Bill Trail about a mile from the Pueblo Park Trailhead and sets off on a winding route, skirting first Pueblo and Tige Canyon to the east, then Steeple Canyon to the west. It's 1.3 miles farther to the same point if you take the Tige Canyon Trail rather than Bonanza Bill, but if scenery is what you're after, it's well worth the added steps.
This trail makes a good day hike when combined with the Bonanza Bill Trail. The 8.7 mile loop provides a good sampling of what the eastern reaches of the Blue have to offer. Trailside vegetation starts out as ponderosa pine mixed with Gambel oak and mature juniper near the trailhead. The overstory varies with elevation and exposure through a broad range of trees and shrubs, from scrub oak and pinyon-juniper communities on the steep slopes and cliffs to the east, to ponderosa pine and mixed conifers such as white fir and Douglas-fir in Steeple Creek Basin. Tige Canyon and Bonanza Bill Trails join about 1.3 miles south of Hinkle Spring, virtually on the Arizona/New Mexico line.
Notes:
No mechanized vehicles (including mountain bikes) permitted in Primitive Area
There are no water sources on this trail
Trail Log:
0.0 Northern junction with Bonanza Bill Trail, about a half mile from the trailhead at Pueblo Park Road, Forest Road 232
0.1 Gate in fence
1.0 Gate in fence; trail enters a pine and juniper flat
3.0 Good views of the upper reaches of Tige Canyon for the next mile
5.0 Southern junction with Bonanza Bill Trail at a fence gate
USGS Maps: Blue SE
At a Glance
Usage:
Light
Best Season:
April through November
Restrictions:
No mechanized vehicles (including mountain bikes) permitted in Primitive Area
Water:
There are no water sources on this trail
General Information
Latitude: 33.60614294
Longitude: -109.049
Length: 5 miles
Elevation: 7,200 feet - 7,760 feet
Directions:
Drive 3 miles east of Alpine on US 180 to Forest Road 281 (Blue River Road). Turn south and follow this scenic back road 20.7 miles to the Pueblo Park Road (Forest Road 232). The Bonanza Bill Trailhead is 4.7 miles east on the dirt road just before it crosses the New Mexico state line. A wood fenced corral serves as a landmark
