The snow was dirty brown near the trailhead--maybe due to snow plowing that happened during the preceding week's big January 2008 snowstorm in the Jemez Mountains.
Start of the Official Cerro Grande RouteThis is the flat part. Note the cross country ski trail beside the snowshoe trail. A lot of people had enjoyed the trail before I got out on it which worked out well. Even though the trail was well-broken the temperatures had stayed so cold that it wasn't at all icy.
Looking Southwest from Cerro Grande Route at Scooter PeakIf you want to travel on the true Valles Caldera East Rim, Scooter Peak is the part between Cerro Grande and Rabbit Ridge. The northwest quadrant of Scooter is owned by the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP). The rest of Scooter is part of Bandelier National Monument (BNM) . There are no formal trails up Scooter but there is possible route that has been scouted by Valles Caldera Rim Trail volunteers (here is the link to that trip report by Dorothy Hoard on Google Drive). It involves following game trails to the top from Scooter's eastern side, off Dome Road-FR-289. Once on top, there's an old logging road which goes down to Scooter Pass, between Scooter Peak and Rabbit Ridge, and intersects the Coyote Call Trail.
I've also read of Scooter being called Sawyer Dome--maybe because it's at the head of Sawyer Mesa (where Obsidian Ridge is located).
Elk Exclosure East of Cerro Grande RouteElk exclosures have become endemic to the Jemez Mountains near Los Alamos--especially after the Cerro Grande Fire.
Cerro Grande Route Marked by Yellow Diamonds
The route is beginning to go uphill here.
Looking Down into the Frijoles Canyon Drainage at a Piece of NM-4
NM-4, coming from Los Alamos and White Rock, New Mexico, crosses Frijoles Canyon at a sharp curve and then heads uphill to the parking for the official Cerro Grande Route and the Upper Frijoles Trails. After your visit to Cerro Grande, if you are driving toward Los Alamos, look up briefly to catch a view of the summit of Cerro Grande as NM-4 goes downhill to dip into Frijoles Canyon
Along the RouteLooking up at the eastern arm of Cerro Grande. The actual summit of Cerro Grande is not tall as mountains go--10,200'-- but it's a truly massive mountain complex in terms of acreage and viewsheds because it has a number of connected ridges like this one. It's not pictured here but, in this section the route does something very cruel!! : ) It goes down into a side drainage of Frijoles Canyon and then you have to work mightily to regain the lost elevation up to the high pass. This also means that on the way back home, you have some uphill when you had bargained for all downhill!!
Aspen Trees Chewed by Elk
Almost to the high pass. I first learned about the high pass from a wonderfully informative, unpublished October 2004 report, Feasibility of a Perimeter Trail in the Cerro Unit, by Dorothy Hoard. The high pass is between the summit of Cerro Grande and an unnamed summit to its south.
Elk Tracks West of Route at the High PassThe tracks came from the conifer grove to the west, crossed the route and then went into an aspen grove to the east.
Area of the High PassIf you've made it this far, might as well go to the summit!! My technique is to walk until my legs or my lungs protest; rest and repeat!! Better to do this hike in cool weather!!
Still Going Up
Views of Redondo Open - Looking into the Valle GrandeOn Cerro Grande, you're in Bandelier National Monument but looking into the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Looking Down on the High Pass and the Valle GrandeIn the background, encircling the Valle Grande (left to right), are Rabbit Mountain, Las Conchas, Los Griegos, the Nacimientos (far distant western horizon), South Mountain, Cerro la Jara (postage-stamp-sized dome in front of South Mountain), and Redondo Peak.
Eastern Arm of Cerro Grande
The heavily forested, unofficial Cerro Grande Route goes up the eastern ridge of Cerro Grande and breaks out into the open where you see the skinny patch of snow. It follows this eastern arm around to the summit of Cerro Grande.
All the Way to the Sandias in Albuquerque
On the blue horizon is Sandia Peak in the Sandia Mountains, east of Albuquerque, NM. In the middle foreground in Bandelier National Monument are the Frijoles Canyon drainage (right) and St. Peter's Dome (left), in the San Miguel Mountains. The long, straight strip of snow above Frijoles Canyon is Sawyer Mesa, where Obsidian Ridge is located.
False Summit Builds False Hope
Real Summit Dead Ahead
Literally Dead Ahead!!The rock pile, turkey feather, and elk skull mark the Cerro Grande summit. You have made it!!
From Cerro Grande Summit: Full View of Redondo in Valle GrandeWith South Mountain and Cerro la Jara lurking on the left.
From Cerro Grande Summit: View to Northwest into Valles Caldera National Preserve
Lot of stuff here!! Basically, in the immediate foreground, you're looking down at a part of the Valle Grande with Cerro del Medio rising behind. On the right middle, poking up above Cerro del Medio is Cerros del Abrigo. They are rhyolite domes that rose up around the edge of the original volcano that collapsed and formed the caldera approximately 1.2 million years ago.
Even after the volcano had collapsed, it wasn't dead. There was still movement of molten lava underground. A ring fracture zone had naturally formed around the edge of the caldera when the caldera's collapse cracked the overlying rock. This ring fracture zone formed a passageway for the rhyolitic lava to squeeze up to the surface and form domes like Cerro del Medio and Cerros del Abrigo. A series of these rhyolite ring fracture domes arose in a circular pattern around Redondo, the resurgent dome of the caldera.
One could perhaps explain a resurgent dome this way: After the caldera collapsed, it wasn't really inactive. There was enough movement of magma underground, underneath the caldera floor, that the magma was able to very slowly uplift the overlying rock, mostly the very same Bandelier Tuff that had previously spewed out of the Valles Caldera, thus forming massive Redondo. Some other ring fracture domes, to the west (left), are viewed in this photo including Cerro San Luis, Cerro Seco, and San Antonio Mountain. The Nacimientos in northwestern New Mexico are on the furthest horizon.
From Cerro Grande Summit: Toward North and Northeast Valles Caldera Rim
On the far left horizon, the snowy patch is Garita Ridge-Hunter's Point on the north rim of the Valles Caldera. The snowy patch in the middle is Cerro Toledo which is on the northeast rim of the Valles Caldera.
This Is the Way to Start Down the Unofficial Cerro Grande Route
A car shuttle can be arranged allowing hikers to go up the longer, gentler unofficial Cerro Grande Route and down the shorter, steeper official one. Hiking Adventures in Northern New Mexico, by Joan and Gary Salzman, gives directions for this hike. There is limited parking for the unofficial Cerro Grande Route along both sides of NM-4, about 1 mile east of the parking for the official Cerro Grande Route.
Somewhere on the higher reaches of the unofficial route is the location where a BNM prescribed fire was ignited in May 2000. It tragically got out of control, starting the Cerro Grande Fire. Oddly enough, when you're on the high reaches of Cerro Grande, it looks undamaged but strong winds, the norm during springtime in the Jemez Mountains, caused the fire to spot and eventually become a raging fire which destroyed and damaged hundreds of homes in nearby Los Alamos, New Mexico.
In Autumn 2007, Bandelier conducted a successful prescribed burn in a different part of the Upper Frijoles area, south of Cerro Grande and above Frijoles Canyon. It went off without a hitch except for some heavy smoke a few nights in the town of Los Alamos.
On the distant horizon are the Sangre de Cristos, the southern extension of the Rocky Mountains. Santa Fe Baldy is to the far left. Ski Santa Fe is to the right of Santa Fe Baldy.