Pat and I returned to the Jemez Mountains for a 4-night stay at the Jemez Falls Campground in our R-Pod, planning to explore further in and around Valles Caldera. For our first hike, we visited Obsidian Valley in the Valles Caldera.

The Drive In

After a relaxing morning on our first full day, we stopped by the Visitors Center to get the entrance pass, then headed out into the Caldera. With the prospect of thunderstorms, we drove only 6 miles into the Caldera, then parked at the entrance to Obsidian Valley for the day’s hike. The whole of Valles Caldera is plush with grasses, many shades of green, nearly waist high in some places; it is such a contrast with other parts of New Mexico. Flowers are abundant – many colors, sizes, styles. And the ever-present New Mexico sky, the brightest of blue and this time of year, the monsoon season, brings clouds to accentuate the sky and skyline. That is the case until afternoon, when … the convective activity heats up producing thunderclouds with lightning and rain, sometimes a deluge. This makes it advisable to hike in the first half ofthe day (and still, bring a raincover of some kind).

The Hike

The ‘trails’ in Valles Caldera are typically two-tracks, now off limits to any wheeled vehicle (autos, ATVs, etc.), which makes for easy hiking. The two-track, VC05, proceeds up Obisidian Valley, a gentle slope until approaching Puerto de Abrigo, a saddle between Cerros de Abrigo on the left and Cerro del Medio on the right. It’s not much of a climb, 100 feet, to crest the saddle and descend into a side-valley at the upper reach of Valle Toledo. We continued for another half mile to check out a spring that is shown on the topo maps. And a spring we found – a large area of open water and marsh, judging by the tracks in the mud a favorite place for elk and deer.

Highlights

The views throughout our visits to Valles Caldera are stunning, huge open valleys with mountains all around. Some of the mountains are lush with forest, others recovering from fires from past years. But even the burned areas have their own appeal as we see grass, oak, and other plants bringing the mountainsides back to life. And everywhere we go other colors stand out against the green grasses, the many flowering plants in white, yellow, blue, and red. This -is- such a beautiful place.

Statistics

Total Distance: 4.05 miles
Elevation: start  8,711 ft, maximum  8,947 ft,  minimum  8,711 ft
Gross gain:  236 ft, Aggregate ascending  584 ft, descending  584 ft
Maximum slope: 27% ascending, 23% descending, 4.6% average
Duration: 3:10

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

References and Resources

Wanderlusting the Jemez: Obsidian’R’Us
Los Angles Times: In Valles Caldera’s wild heart
Valles Caldera Trust: La Ventana en los Valles (PDF)
Eas-on Down The Road: Valles Caldera National Preserve
Earthwatch: Encountering the Prehistoric People of New Mexico 2013 (PDF)
And check other posts for Valles Caldera

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

Introduction

‘Twas our third approach to Cerro Grande, the tallest mountain in Valles Caldera National Preserve. Our first visit was “exploratory” (we went half way to the top), the 2nd visit two days ago as an appendix to another hike, but today ’twas our plan to go to the top.

The Hike

The trail up to the saddle was much like Our first visit; the grasses are still verdant but the flowers have gone past their prime. We remained on the trail rather than making a beeline for the top of the saddle. We were (pleasantly) surprised that the trail did not attack Cerro Grande directly, not a pleasant prospect because it appeared to be a steep climb and the day was sunny – such a climb would be hot and taxing. Rather, the trail headed to the east/northeast, presenting 1) a fair amount of shade and 2) a trail not so steep, rounding the eastern side of Cerro Grande and with a few switchbacks.

Nearing the top, we left the comfort of shade headed towards the summit which is marked with a large cairn, visible from a distance, and two survey markers (neither of which gave the elevation, but from other sources we understand it to be 10,199 ft; USTopo/GPS on my Galaxy 5 reported 10,194 ft). As expected the view across Valles Grande was “expansive” (?), highlighted by cloud shadows moving across the plain. The air was hazy so the views in other directions weren’t the best, but .. when the air is clear they must be extraordinary.

We retreated from the summit to the edge of the sparsely forested area to find some shade for out mid-hike break/lunch. After enjoying cups of Ramen Soup (a first for us on a hike – these hit the spot) as well as PB&J sandwich, carrots, and a cookie, we headed down, taking time to appreciate the late flowers, green of the grasses, and .. simply being outdoors again in Mother Nature’s garden.

Statistics

Total Distance:  4.53 miles
Elevation: start  8,954 ft, maximum  10,194 ft,  minimum  8,952 ft
Gross gain:  1,242 ft.  Aggregate ascending  1,493 ft, descending  1,494 ft
Maximum slope: 34% ascending, 36% descending, 11.5% average
Duration: 6:16

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

References

National Park Service:
    Cerro Grande Trail       
    Valles Caldera Map
Natural Atlas: Cerro Grande Trail, a very nice interactive map – pan, zoom etc.
AllTrails: Cerro Grande Trail
American Southwest: Cerro Grande Trail, Bandelier National Monument
Wikipedia:
    Cerro Grande Fire   
    Valles Caldera
VallesCalderaRim: Cerro Grande Showshoe (Official Cerro Grande Route).

George's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Showeshow.

Our 2nd day of a 4 day visit to Valles Caldera. We brought our bikes to learn if we’re ready for biking on back country roads. A friend’s description of the roads in the Valle encouraged us to give it a go; he judged the roads’ surface to be fair and elevation changes would be minimal within the Valle.

The Drive In

After consulting with the Ranger at the Visitors Center and getting our entrance permit, we drove to the Horse Barn; driving further was not permitted because of the culvert washout presently undergoing repair. Leaving our bikes at the top of the hill/driveway to the Barn and parking the truck at the Barn, we started riding north on VC02. This was our first time on any uneven, rocky surface and we quickly determined that we needed some practice to become safe. Shortly we came to a steep descent that would be on a surface that was even more rocky. At that point we chose to stash our bike away from the road and make this a hike.

The Hike

We walked down the hill, saw the work being done to repair the road (we remained clear of the construction area per instructions from the Ranger) and proceed up Jaramillo Creek. We followed an ad hoc trail, an old two-track that runs parallel to Jaramillo Creek (the only recent activity evident on the two-track were bicycles). Lush grasses covered the ground all around and the forest of douglas fir, spruce, and ponderosa pine trees covered the sides of Cerro Piño on our right and Redondo on our left, with burned areas on the ridge tops ahead.

As we proceeded north along Jaramillo Creek the views were spectacular – to the northwest across Valle Jaramillo ahead of us and behind us the huge Valle Grande. The space of this place is hard to grasp – one can see unobstructed by -any- disturbance one mile (Valle Jaramillo) or 5 miles (Valle Grande). And through the pristine clear air, distant objects seem to be much closer (until one measures the distance on a map or starts walking towards some destination and learns  ..  it is much farther than perceived).

Planning about a 4 mile hike, when we reached two miles we found some shade to have our mid-hike break (I might better describe it as lunch, since Pat brings more for us than the granola bars Jay & I bring). After enjoying the PB&J sandwich and sliced carrots & apples, it seemed only proper to lay back and rest a bit (.. for me, a half hour nap). Looking further north, we could see more beautiful scenery – the open (huge) meadow of Valle Jaramillo, and … what might lay beyond?  But we turned back towards the bikes, road them down to the Barn, and headed back to the campground having enjoyed another wonderful day in this amazingly beautiful place. 

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.60 miles
Elevation: start  8,655 ft, maximum  8,714 ft,  minimum  8,612 ft
Gross gain:  102 ft.  Aggregate ascending  556 ft, descending  516 ft
Maximum slope: 31% ascending, 29% descending, 4.7% average
Duration: 3:23

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

References

National Park Service:
    Valles Caldera National Preserve          
    Maps
AllTrails: Interactive Map of Valles Caldera
    (zoom in to see trails, our hike is not shown)
Wikipedia: Valles Caldera
NM Museum of Natural History and Science: Valles Caldera, Jemez Volcanic Field
GeoTimes: A Secret Garden: New Mexico’s Valles Caldera
Facebook: Valles Caldera National Preserve
National Parks Traveler: Exploring the Parks: Valles Caldera National Preserve
BikePacking: Valles Caldera Supervolcano Explorer, New Mexico
    (a superb photo gallery)

George's Photos /w Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

Our third day camping/hiking in the Jemez Mountains, in and around Valles Caldera. Having worn ourselves thin on the Alamo Spring hike the day before, we intended to limit hiking this day. So, to start the day we headed south on FR 289 to see where it would take us (near St Peter’s Dome??) and to check out the road. Then we intended to only ‘check out’ the Cerro Grande trail, having gathered that it was steep with some 1,200 feet elevation gain.

The Drive In

FR 289, St Peters Dome Road DriveAbout: We had driven a few miles down FR 289 the day before, on our way to the Alamo Spring Hike. This day we continued for 6.2 miles from NM 4. This is clearly a well used road – graded gravel. (We’ve started referring  to ‘graded gravel’ as New Mexico pavement. Such roads are passable in most conditions, differentiated from lessor roads, those without grading and gravel; they can be impassable if not totally dry.) The route was not challenging until we began to come near the end of the mesa, some 5 miles, where the road began winding and descending. As it began to look more challenging, we noticed very dark clouds to the north, suggesting rain. Promising to return another time, to attempt to make it as far as St Peter’s Dome, we turned back towards NM 4.

Some 2.5 miles from where we turned around we noticed a two-track heading to the east, back towards Alamo Canyon. The rain appeared to be staying to the north (we had enough cell phone service to get weather radar); we allowed our curiosity to get the better of us and we turned to explore. (This was one of those two-tracks mentioned above – don’t go there if it is not dry. And travel in a high clearance vehicle, preferably 4-wheel drive. It’s not the worst two-track I’ve been on, but it’s up there for our range of experience.) Again out of consideration of weather, we turned around some 2 miles; looking at the topo map, it appears we could hike from here to the end of the mesa passing abreast of Obsidian Ridge (from the Alamo Spring Hike) or drive to the right some distance further (which is marked on the topo map as the Bland Frijoles Trail), or hike down that deteriorating two-track from which there appears to me options, like descending into either of the canyons, Alamo on the left (east), Capulin on the right (west) — so many places to explore (all Forest Service land).

The Hike

It was our intention to walk up the Cerro Grande Trail far enough to get a feel for just how much of a climb we would face. Parking at the trailhead, we started off through the most pleasant open forest on a really fine trail with just a slight gain in elevation. It did gradually increase, but not enough to cause us to pause and think – OK, we’ll return another day to ascend to the top. This continued for 1.5 miles, where we topped the saddle between Cerro Grande and its companion (slightly shorter) to the south. But .. we weren’t ready to make the last 600 or so feet/half mile to the summit of Cerro Grande. We’ll do that another time.

The eastern/downwind side of saddle is covered with the most healthy grass clumps, no trees. The west/upwind side of the saddle, facing the Caldera, is strewn with downed tree trunks from many years ago. With only a couple of exceptions, they are all laying parallel, like a strong wind had come along and toppled them all at once, in the same direction. And the wind was blowing (and cold) that day; rain squalls were obscuring the view to the northwest, the far side of the Caldera.  We retreated back downhill to get out of the wind and have our mid-hike/lunch break. We will return here, like the other places we visited this trip.

Highlight

This year we have enjoyed the wettest winter since moving to Albuquerque nine years ago. In the past, flowers in this quite dry climate have consistently attracted my attention. On this hike we saw so many flowers – I counted 17 different blossoms (with the ubiquitous dandelions by far the most prevalent). Here are photos of a few of the different blossoms we saw on the Cerro Grande Trail.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.06 miles
Elevation: start  8,951 ft, maximum  9,613 ft,  minimum  8,951 ft
Gross gain:  662 ft.  Aggregate ascending  945 ft, descending  945 ft
Maximum slope: 42% ascending, 35% descending, 9.9% average
Duration: 2:56

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

References

National Park Service, Bandelier: Cerro Grande Trail
AllTrails: Cerro Grande Trail
American Southwest: Cerro Grande Trail, Bandelier National Monument
ondafringe: Day Hike: Cerro Grande/Valles Caldera
Stav Is Lost: Hike Cerro Grande
Discover the West: The Cerro Grande Route (great review, recommended)
Valles Caldera Rim: Valles Caldera East Rim: Cerro Grande Snowshoe
Keeping in Tune: I Hike the Cerro Grande Trail in the Jemez Mountains
             (great photos)
Los Alamos Daily Post:  Amateur Naturalist:
     Cerro Grande Peak: Scene – Human and Natural Impacts

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

This was our first hike during a 3 days visit to the Jemez Mountains, in the vicinity of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  We set up our R-Pod trailer/camper in the Jemez Falls Campground, a base camp from which to explore and hike in the area. Our first stop was the Visitors Center in the Caldera where we obtained suggestions for hiking, maps of the Preserve, and … a pass that permitted us to drive beyond the Center. We were advise that we would not be able to go deep into the Caldera because of a road washout. From this review we chose to drive to the Cabin District, park, and hike on a logging road – VC02.

The Hike

The weather was perfect – comfortable temperature, no wind (a relief this time of year), and mostly clear sky. It appears that VC02 may be used by Preserve staff and maintained in good driving condition, so it was easy walking mostly on dry dirt with a couple of areas covered with rocks.

With this year’s wet spring the ground was covered with grasses and many different blooming flowers (the yellow of dandelions being the most prevalent against the green grasses). The forest was quite healthy – small and large ponderosa pines interspersed with groves of aspen. A few streams crossed the road, through culverts or meandering across the road, snowmelt from higher up on Redondo Peak to the west.  And the views across the Caldera were spectacular; it is so vast (5 miles of completely open plain across to the other side of this section of the Caldera) which makes it very difficult to get a perspective of distances.

About a mile into the hike, we spotted our first elk of the trip – two at a distance near the edge of the forest. They appeared to survey us for a few minutes, then retreated into the trees. A bit over a mile on, we came upon a junction with VC0201 where we chose to turn back towards the truck. VC0201 appears to be an old logging trail, not used these days. Covered with grass it was more pleasant than VC02; it was easy to follow this old two track and made for easy walking.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.06 miles
Elevation: start  8,740 ft, maximum  8,934 ft,  minimum  8,721 ft
Gross gain:  213 ft.  Aggregate ascending  535 ft, descending  526 ft
Maximum slope: 24% ascending, 20% descending, 5.6% average
Duration: 1:49

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

References

National Park Service: Valles Caldera-Plan Your Visit
AllTrails: Valles Caldera National Preserve
    (VC02 isn’t marked, but this presents an overview of trails in the Caldera)
Los Alamos Woods Wanderer:
    Valles Caldera National Preserve: New South Mountain Hike
(This report dates back  to a time before the Caldera came under National Park Service management and became available to the public. But it offers some good description of the area of VC02 and photos.)

[Show slideGeorge's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.show]