Advocacy Groups
Caldera Action
Anschuetz, Kurt F. & Merlan, Thomas. More Than a Scenic Mountain Landscape: Valles Caldera National Preserve Land-use History. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-196. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2007.
Geographic Names Information System
by Shari Kelley and Kirt Kempter
Pajarito Environmental Education Center
The Great Desert: Geology and Life on Mars and in the Southwest
Valles Caldera 1 - Overview
The Great Desert: Geology and Life on Mars and in the Southwest
Valles Grande Caldera - Geologic History 1
Valles Caldera Lake Cores
Valles Caldera National Preserve Reference Documents
Wohletz, Kenneth, and Grant Heiken. Volcanology and Geothermal Energy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
NM Museum of Natural History
Kempter, Kirt & Huelster, Dick. Valles Caldera: Map and Geologic History of the Southwest's Youngest Caldera. Santa Fe, NM: High Desert Field Guides, 2007.
Car trip into the Valles Caldera National Preserve 8-26-2006
Photo Gallery by Bob Walker
Redondo Peak, Roland Pettitt, National Park Service, no date.
Valles Caldera National Preserve
Valles Caldera National Preserve
Valles Caldera Rim Trail
Los Amigos de los Valles Caldera
Details how to find out about volunteer opportunities at the Preserve.
Caldera Action
Caldera Action is a new group that replaces the Valles Caldera Coalition. Caldera Action advocates low impact public use and preservation of the natural, cultural, and historical features of the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP). It desires much greater public participation in decisions affecting the VCNP and hopes to inspire more activism on all VCNP-related issues. Caldera Action is concerned about what may happen to the Preserve’s unique landscape and the public’s access to it if the Trust doesn’t reach financial self sufficiency by 2015. The group believes that currently the Preserve is not being well managed and this negatively impacts both the protection of the land and the public’s access to it. Its vision, mission, and guiding principles are detailed on its website.Los Amigos de los Valles Caldera
Los Amigos and Caldera Action are both non-profit organizations but Los Amigos works very closely with the Valles Caldera Trust in helping it achieve the goals of protecting the Valles Caldera National Preserve, educating people about it, and achieving financial self sufficiency. Los Amigos does this by such actions as garnering volunteers and securing grants and donations.Books and Publications
Anschuetz, Kurt F. & Merlan, Thomas. More Than a Scenic Mountain Landscape: Valles Caldera National Preserve Land-use History. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-196. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2007.
Quote from the website:Beard, Sam. Ski Touring in Northern New Mexico (2nd ed.). Albuquerque, NM: Nordic Press, 1991.
“This land-use history deals mainly with the economic development of the locality over the 124 years of intense use and development. We provide a regional context in which the caldera’s users, from the first legal owners, the Baca heirs, to the last private owners, the James Patrick Dunigan companies, acted during their respective tenures.”
You may download chapters as pdf files. Appendix I includes an annotated bibliography.
The Jemez Mountains section provides an invaluable aid to exploring the cross-country ski trails in the Peralta Road-Corral Canyon-Las Conchas-Los Griegos area, on or near the Valles Caldera rim. Even if you don’t ski, these trails can be used year-round. Sam Beard still regularly goes out with a crew of volunteers to maintain the cross-country ski trails in the Jemez Mountains.Burns, Jim. Cross-Country Skiing in the Jemez Mountains. Santa Fe, NM: Mountain Empire Press, 1991.
This guidebook includes brief descriptions and topo maps of cross-country ski trails, from Paso del Norte to Los Griegos Mountain, which will get you on or near the Valles Caldera south rim.DeBuys, William & Usner, Don J.. Valles Caldera: A Vision for New Mexico's National Preserve. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2006.
Both the essay by DeBuys and the photos and text by Usner provide a good way to get to know the Valles Caldera more intimately. It’s guaranteed that if you don’t care now about the Valles Caldera National Preserve, you will after reading this book!Goff, Fraser. Valles Caldera: A Geologic History. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, May 16, 2009.
Fraser Goff is a retired Los Alamos National Lab geologist and adjunct professor in the University of New Mexico’s Earth and Planetary Sciences department. Fraser and his wife, Cathy, lead geology tours at the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Fraser has many years of experience leading geological tours.Hoard, Dorothy. Guide to Bandelier National Monument (4th ed.). Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, February 12, 2009.
This book is now published. Here are the details.
The book includes these hikes which are on the Valles Caldera rim: Cerro Grande, Scooter Peak and Scooter Pass (the latter two are accessed from the Alamo Boundary Trail). The book has been completely redone because there have been so many changes in Bandelier National Monument since the third edition, published in 1989. Here are the details.Hoard, Dorothy. Los Alamos Outdoors (2nd ed.). Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1993.
Even though much of the landscape around Los Alamos changed drastically after the 2000 Cerro Grande fire, this invaluable book will still teach you a lot about what you’re seeing in the Jemez Mountains around Los Alamos--the birds, the flowers, the geology, the past history. It includes directions, sketch maps, and interpretation for Guaje Canyon Trail 282 on the east rim of the Valles Caldera and the Canon de Valle hike which was a historic route into the Valles Caldera.Kues, Barry S., Kelley, Shari A., Lueth, Virgil W. (Eds.). Guidebook 58: Geology of the Jemez Region II. Socorro, NM: New Mexico Geological Society, 2007.
This compilation of research papers and road guides, from the September 2007 fall field conference of the NM Geological Society, includes fascinating information on the geology of the Valles Caldera.Martin, Craig. Los Alamos Trails (2nd ed.). Los Alamos, NM: All Seasons Publishing, 2006.
The second edition has many changes taking into account both the effects of the Cerro Grande Fire and the San Ildefonso Pueblo land transfer. It describes four hikes which will get you on or near the Valles Caldera rim: Canada Bonita-Guaje Canyon Trail 282, Alamo Boundary, Coyote Call, and Valle Grande. Waypoints, detailed directions, and inset topo maps are provided.Martin, Craig. Valle Grande: A History of the Baca Location No. 1.Los Alamos, NM: All Seasons Publishing, 2003.
This well-researched book gives the history of the Baca Location No. 1 up to its acquisition by the United States government.Matthews, Kay. Cross-country Skiing in Northern New Mexico. Placitas, NM: Acequia Madre Press, 1989.
The Jemez Mountains section gives directions and sketch maps to trails and roads that can get you on or near the Valles Caldera south rim in the area between Paso del Norte Road, Forest Road (FR) 268, and Peralta Road, FR 280.Pettitt, Roland (Revisions and Maps by Dorothy Hoard). Exploring the Jemez Country (3rd ed.). Los Alamos: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1994.
Provides a fun-to-read orientation to the marvels and adventures the Jemez Mountains offer outside of the Valles Caldera. Trips on roads, both paved and dirt, take you to the southern and northern Jemez Mountains and to many of the sights you’ll also see from the Valles Caldera rim like Battleship Rock and San Antonio Canyon. The “3-D” sketch maps, a unique feature of all Dorothy Hoard’s hiking books, allow enjoyable and easy visualization of the geography.Prisciantelli, Tom. America’s Great Western Volcanos. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 2004.
This book contains a brief geologic interpretation of a hike which the author calls “Rim Hike”, on the south Valles Caldera rim, within the Santa Fe National Forest. It’s on Cat Mesa Road, FR 135, off FR 10. The author discusses the youngest volcanics in the Valles Caldera: Battleship Rock, El Cajete, and Banco Bonito. He uses both the East Fork Trail 137, starting from Battleship Rock, and a roadcut along NM-4 to interpret these southwestern moat rhyolites. It’s written by a non-geologist and is layman-friendly.Salzman, Joan and Gary. Hiking Adventures in Northern New Mexico.Los Alamos, NM: Aventuras Publishers, 2006.
This innovative hiking book includes a CD chockfull of waypoints, photos, and Google Earth maps for each hike. Directions for the alternate, unofficial route up Cerro Grande and the hike along the north rim of Santa Clara Canyon, starting from Tschicoma, are in this book.S. Self, G. Heiken, M. L. Sykes, K. Wohletz, R. V. Fisher, and D. P. Dethier. Bulletin 134—Field Excursions to the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. Socorro, NM: New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources, 1996.
Tom Prisciantelli says this is one of the sources he used and found helpful in writing America’s Great Western Volcanos.Internet
Geographic Names Information System
Quote from the website:Grand Enchantment Trail
“The GNIS contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all types in the United States, associated areas, and Antarctica, current and historical, but not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates.”You look up a place name and get a link to a Google Earth map that pinpoints exactly what you are looking for--a fun way to learn the geography of the Valles Caldera!
A 700 mile route that goes from Phoenix, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico using existing trails and dirt roads. This concept of no-new-trails is a good precedent for the Valles Caldera Rim Trail in this era of federal government cutbacks of outdoor recreation monies.Lists of John New Mexico Member Sites
You can find elevations for Valles Caldera summits either by county or elevation range. On the Sandoval County Summits list, many of the caldera peaks are listed with their elevation, the USGS quadrangle they are found on, and a small satellite view provided by Google Earth. A few even have photos of the mountain.Geology of the Pajarito Plateau
by Shari Kelley and Kirt Kempter
Pajarito Environmental Education Center
The Pajarito Plateau is the handiwork of the Toledo-Valles Calderas. This fascinating write-up includes photos of the rocks of the plateau going back in time from most recent rocks, El Cajete Pumice, to the oldest, the Santa Fe Group. The authors are geologists who have studied and mapped in the Jemez Mountains.New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Publications
This website is a real thrill to those who love maps. You can download geological maps of the Valles Caldera as pdf files.New Mexico Geological Society Publications
You can order Guidebook 58: Geology of the Jemez Region II on this website.Resurgent calderas and the valles caldera
This page is on a website called Views of the Solar System. It tells how a resurgent dome such as Redondo forms. You can download a shaded elevation map and Landsat image of Valles Caldera from links at the bottom of the webpage.United States Geological Survey Cascade Volcano Observatory
Warning: This website can lead to serious web browsing!The Valles Caldera 1
The Great Desert: Geology and Life on Mars and in the Southwest
Valles Caldera 1 - Overview
In two chapters--illustrated with Space Shuttle photos - are everything you always wanted to know about how the Valles Caldera formed!Valles Caldera 1
The Great Desert: Geology and Life on Mars and in the Southwest
Valles Grande Caldera - Geologic History 1
Five chapters contain an excellent introduction to the Valles Caldera with good photos of volcanics in the area and also Space Shuttle views of the caldera. Keep hitting “Next” to see all five chapters.
Valles Caldera Lake Cores
This page is on a website called Teacher's Guide to Valles Caldera: The Science.
It explains that to understand past climate history, scientists are studying sediment cores from a ancient lake bed in the Valle Grande. There is a large amount of important scientific research being conducted on an ongoing basis in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Valles Caldera National Preserve Reference Documents
Here you can download the State of the Preserve - DRAFT, September 2007, as a pdf file. It has a good bibliography of publications relating to the Valles Caldera under Chapter 6, “Literature Cited”.Volcanology and Geothermal Energy
Wohletz, Kenneth, and Grant Heiken. Volcanology and Geothermal Energy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
This book is available in electronic form on eScholarship Editions. Both authors are geologists: Wohletz works at LANL and Heiken is retired from LANL. If you look up “Valles Caldera” in the index, you will be able to find interesting diagrams and information.Volcanos of New Mexico
NM Museum of Natural History
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History website provides information on New Mexico volcanos, including Valles Caldera and the Jemez Volcanic Field. The website has links to other Internet volcano resources.Maps
You can also download a pdf file of this paper:
Crumpler, L. S., and Lucas, S. G. (2001). Volcanoes of New Mexico: An Abbreviated Guide for Non-Specialists. Volcanology in New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 18, p. 5-15.
This paper presents information, in layman-friendly form, on about two dozen volcanic areas in New Mexico.
Kempter, Kirt & Huelster, Dick. Valles Caldera: Map and Geologic History of the Southwest's Youngest Caldera. Santa Fe, NM: High Desert Field Guides, 2007.
Great primer on the geology of the Valles Caldera is on the back of the map! One can visualize the outline of the caldera rim on this shaded relief map.Smith, R.L., Bailey, R.A., and Ross, C.S.. Geologic Map of the Jemez Mountains. New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey, 1970.
This is where you can order the original geologic map of Jemez Mountains and Valles Caldera: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR). A new version, authored by Fraser Goff and others, should be out soon. In the meantime, you can freely download on the NMBGMR website the updated, individual USGS 7.5 minute series topographical geologic quad maps that cover the entire Valles Caldera National Preserve--Valle San Antonio, Cerro del Grant, Polvadera Peak, Valle Toledo, Redondo Peak, and Bland.Valles Caldera National Preserve Maps Overview
Click on “STATIC” to download maps of various hikes and activities offered in the Preserve. The other link, “DYNAMIC”, has been under construction for years. It was originally planned to have linked interactive maps with photos, but this hasn’t happened yet. The VCNP is plagued with frequent staff shortages. Congress’s refusal to pass a permanent budget the past two years only worsens the situation.Photos
Car trip into the Valles Caldera National Preserve 8-26-2006
Photo Gallery by Bob Walker
The caldera publicized a Drive and Discover day open house in 2006 but had to shut down early, turning away droves of disappointed visitors. Bob Walker was one of the lucky ones who got into the sacred inner sanctum that day. There are only 18 photos but they include shots of a long line of vehicles on the VCNP’s entrance road, an elk herd, mushrooms, and the Valle Grande.Don Usner - Photography
Don Usner has on online photo gallery of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Click on “galleries”, then “places”, then “valles caldera”, and prepare to be astounded!Geomosaics
Kirt Kempter makes amazing panoramic photos of the Valles Caldera from both the north and south rim. The panoramas can be custom-ordered from Pajarito Environmental Education Center and the Chamber of Commerce in Los Alamos or from the Audubon Center and the Public Lands Information Center in Santa Fe or by contacting Kirt through his website.Jemez, New Mexico
The fifth photo down on this page is by Roland Pettitt It’s taken from the top of Redondo Peak and shows a view of the Valle Grande, looking east toward the Valles Caldera east rim and beyond to the Sangre de Cristos. It’s unique because the top of Redondo is now off-limits to the general public. This is another one of those gray areas which the Valles Caldera Trust will have to face one day. The Preserve’s enabling legislation does not bar the public from hiking on Redondo.
This website is Volcano World and its purpose is to help children in grades K-12 learn about volcanos. But for some of us whose understanding of science is, ahem, rudimentary, this is the perfect website to learn about volcanos!
Redondo Peak, Roland Pettitt, National Park Service, no date.Valles Caldera National Preserve
Valles Caldera National Preserve
This is the official website of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.Valles Caldera Rim Trail
Valles Caldera Rim Trail
This is the official blog of the all-volunteer effort to have a rim trail around the Valles Caldera. It’s a valuable resource for anyone who wants to explore the Valles Caldera Rim. On this website, you can read trip reports by volunteers who have walked segments of the rim and learn what areas of the rim are open right now and which are off-limits for the meantime. The majority of the trip reports were written by Dorothy Hoard. Dorothy was accompanied on the reconnaissance trips by volunteers who were very happy to hike along with her on the Valles Caldera Rim.Volunteer
Los Amigos de los Valles Caldera
Los Amigos provides information on available Preserve volunteer opportunities.Valles Caldera National Preserve
Details how to find out about volunteer opportunities at the Preserve.