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

It's That Time of the Year

As we move into February, trail times are always tough. Not enough snow for skiing close to town, and what snow there is has a crust or is slush. I lost yet another traction device that I attach to my boots so I can walk on the icy trails. But, so what, it's still great to get outside everyday. Here's what I know about trail conditions:

• Mitchell Trail is mostly ice free, but it is muddy. It's the best trail around right now.
• Perimeter Trail behind Arizona has a lot of snowpack that is easy to walk on, but there are some icy and muddy spots. A good choice.
• Perimeter Trail from the Mitchell Trail to Quemazon has some mud but not much snow. A good choice.
• North Bayo Bench Trail from the roundabout to the overlook below Camino Encantado is mostly clear of mud, but there are several icy spots, in particular the little drop off about a quarter mile in from the roundabout. Be careful there.
• North Pueblo Bench Trail is still icy between the bridges, but clear east of the long bridge to the golf course area.
• Walnut Canyon Rim Trail has a few icy spots but is very passable in boots without spikes attached.
• Kwage Mesa Trail is still muddy but drying fast.
• Woodland Trail is icy.
• Dot Grant Trails have lots of ice.
• Bayo Canyon Trail is snow packed.

Add any trail reports as comments here. Let us know what's opening up or what is still nasty.

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!

Guaje Ridge Trail

Upper Guaje Ridge between Pipeline Road and the Mitchell Trail has been repaired and is in really good shape. Below the Mitchell to the Cabra Loop, the trail is really eroded. We re-built most of it in 2005 following the Cerro Grande fire, but we didn't move the trail into better spots. I think this trail needs to be relocated on about 60% of its length. It's not easy trail work--a two-hour hike to get to the work spot. We need a new plan!

______________________________________________________
On July 4, 2011 former Los Alamos Fire Marshall Mike Thompson and I walked a long loop up the Mitchell Trail and down Pipeline Road. The Las Conchas fire was actively burning in Guaje Canyon and to the north, but most the loop we walked was fire-free. The exception was a hot spot along the upper Guaje Ridge Trail near Pipeline Road. The fire had burned through the day before left smoldering logs, fallen snags, and fire creeping through the duff. Most of the trail had been untouched by the fire, but there were some ugly spots.

The next day, smoke billowed from the north of Guaje Ridge in the area Mike and I had walked the day before, and the area continued to push out smoke for the next four or five days. I expected that all the areas that had been untouched were now burned. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that the upper Guaje Ridge Trail was much like I had seen it in July. Some areas did burn, but most of the trail and surrounding forest is intact.

East of the Mitchell Trail, most of the Guaje Ridge Trail escaped the flames. Above the Mitchell intersection, the burn is patchy and much of it was a re-burn in the Cerro Grande burn scar. I did mark 73 hazard trees along the upper 2 miles, so the area isn't completely untouched.

Hiking in July in full fire gear isn't much fun. Mike Thompson walked through this aspen stand on July 4. The aspens are re-growth following the Cerro Grande fire and were a welcome relief from the sun. The green spot gave me hope that the ridge would be spared by the Las Conchas fire.

The intersection of the Guaje Ridge Trail and Pipeline Road on July 4, 2011. It is the most devastated section of the Guaje Ridge Trail.

Looking into Quemazon Canyon from Pipeline Road near the pipe rack, October 2005 and November 2011. The fire came up this canyon and burned the western portion of the Guaje Ridge Trail.

The Cerro Grande fire spared a half-mile long stretch of the Guaje Ridge Trail just below Pipeline Road. The Las Conchas fire burned through that stand of firs and spruce with a mosaic pattern. There are small patches of blackened forest, but most of it was a moderate burn that do not effect the essential feel of the trail. 

Aspen regeneration after Cerro Grande burned hot in Las Conchas, and this stand of aspen is regenerating again. The soil here is exposed and that might create erosion problems in spring and summer.

New Mexico locust dominates this slope along the ridge trail about a half-mile from the Mitchell Trail. It completely burned off above ground and will be back with a vengeance!