Drying Out: Most Trails Are 95% Mud and Ice Free

As the trails dry out, it's time to start a new season of maintenance work. I cleaned the water diversions on the Perimeter Trail between Quemazon and the Mitchell Trail, and the entire stretch was dry. It looks like trails on north-facing slopes (like the Bayo Canyon Trail that heads from the stable area into the canyon) are still snow-packed, but sunny bench trails and south-facing slopes are in good shape. The Perimeter behind Arizona Avenue has lots of soft, muddy spots. But the Quemazon, Woodland, North Bayo Bench, Walnut Canyon Rim, Dot Grant, the South Pueblo Bench trails are mostly dry.

One thing I've noticed is lots of spots where the trails have gotten wider over the winter. In places the Perimeter Trail looks like Forest Road 144 instead of a sweet single track. We need to get these narrowed back to trail width before the trailside vegetation gets trampled to death and the trail does become as wide as a road.

There's plenty of stuff along the trails that can be used to cover the wide spots: logs, oak sprouts cut by Las Canyon fire crews, bark, rocks. If we all take five minutes out of every trip to squeeze a wide spot back to 24 inches or so, we'll get it done before there's permanent damage. I'll post photos of what I have in mind as soon as I get a chance.

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!

Cañon de Valle Trail

Note: the Las Conchas Fire Closure Order is still in effect and the burned area is closed to public entry. I have been assisting the Santa Fe National Forest with trail assessments and identifying hazard trees and have permission to enter the closed area.

Cañon de Valle looks to be the victim of bursting debris dams. High flows in the post-fire world move around the logs in a stream channel. At constriction points, the logs can interlock and form a dam. Water backs up behind the dam until the weight of the water breaks through the dam. The resulting flow can be many times the flow generated by runoff and the erosive power of the surge of water can gouge out many feet of stream channel in a short time. Places in the post-Las Conchas fire Cañon de Valle appear to have had stacked debris dams: when the uppermost dam broke, the flow surged to the lower dam and burst that one, resulting in incredibly high flow volumes.

The lower, road portion of the route up Cañon de Valle is totally unrecognizable. The surface is concealed by a jumble of boulders. Near the junction with the Perimeter Trail, the road is completely gone. The trail that heads up the canyon is alternately washed out and just eroded with deep ruts. The western 1.5 miles of the trail is in good shape.

Just above the highway, I think this is the road in Cañon de Valle. It's tough to tell where the road is under the rocks. The first three-quarter of a mile are like this. Makes for tough mountain biking, and hiking isn't much fun.

The high ground here is where the road and trail used to be. When the debris dams upstream broke, the water ponded here before it breached the old road.

The trail was on the slope at the left side of the photo. This is just below the stacked debris dams. Although I know this canyon very well, there are many spots that are so radically altered that I don't recognize the location.

Above is the post-Cerro Grande erosion channel in June 2005; below is the same location with the post-Las Conchas channel in November 2011.

After about two miles, the canyon is like it has always been.

Assessment: Like in Water Canyon, it may be time to move the trail onto the slope above the canyon floor. Lots of work, but crews may be available this summer to begin the reconstruction.