50 Hikes: The Classic Returns in 2012

"Many years ago, Frances Arnold, Carol Carlson, and Maxine Ellis created a 50 Hikes trail list for friends who wanted to explore our beautiful mesas, canyons, and mountains.  The Santa Fe National Forest later adopted the list as a convenience for visitors.  Despite subsequent publication of a number of hiking books for the area, the list still serves its purpose as a quick introduction to the east side of the Jemez Mountains. "---from the introduction.

This little handout guide is a popular item at the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce and is routinely given to new arrivals to town. The tireless Dorothy Hoard revised the guide for at least 20 years, and she and I just completed a 2012 revision. Of course, in the post-Las Conchas fire world, some of the trail descriptions are a bit fuzzy (what will be the fate of the Water Canyon Trail?) but overall the short descriptions are up-to-date.

You can go to the Chamber to pick it up, or download a copy by clicking the link below:

50 Hikes in Los Alamos

Partial Lifting of the Las Conchas Fire Closure Order

The Santa Fe National Forest has lifted the closure order on some additional trails in the Las Conchas burn area on the Española Ranger District. The Cañada Bonita/Guaje Canyon Trail is open from the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area to the drop off into Guaje Canyon. The Nordic Ski Trails are open. Also, the Nail Trail is now open.


The lifting of the closure is due to the hard work of the Recreation Staff at the Española Ranger District, and Southwest Nordic Ski Club volunteers who removed hazard trees along the trails and did so much more to prepare them for use. Great work, all of you!

Nail Trail/Pajarito Canyon Loop

This one is repairable. The Las Conchas fire seemed to seek out any tree that survived the Cerro Grande fire and burn it, but in the Pajarito Canyon area there wasn't much left to burn. The trail tread on this 4-mile loop is either intact or repairable. There are plenty of hazard trees along both trails, but once they are removed, the loop is a candidate for some worthwhile trail work in the spring.

Much of the Nail Trail is in moderate burn severity, but the trees are mostly killed. It would be great to add some erosion controls this spring to stabilize the trail in preparation for the summer rains.

The post-Cerro Grande aspen regeneration here was set back 11 years.

Ruts are forming along the trail where the forest above was burned.

Volunteer-built retaining wall in 2005 and 2011. The wall held.

This side canyon in the section of Pajarito Canyon near the climbing area was hardly noticable until it was the focus of a small storm cell in July 2011.

The section of the Pajarito Canyon Trail just above West Jemez Road will take the most work to re-establish.