Out & back, 12 miles with +2,900 ft elevation gain

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Starting at the bottom of Puerco Canyon we take the dirt road uphill to Mesa Peak, which is 2.9 miles away. (When you’re 2.9 miles into your run, you will see a “bench” sign and a narrow single track going up the hillside. This is a great little extra challenge with an amazing view about 0.3 miles out.) But it’s also a great spot to turn around if this is plenty for you.
From there we can continue on all the way to the parking lot at Corral high up on the Backbone trail with amazing views and beautiful sand rock formations.
There we turn around and head back where we came from.
Start location has scattered parking available along the road.