VALLES Caldera Rim Trip Report Camp May Saddle to rincón bonito

East Rim

Date: April 23, 2007 Purpose: Walk the actual rim to assess routes and acquire data on difficulty of building and maintaining trails. USGS Topographic Map: Valle Toledo Participants: Dorothy Hoard, Yvonne Delamater Equipment: Garmin Global Positioning System Model GPS 12; digital camera Olympus Camedia C-3000; . Methodology: I obtained a permit to enter Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) land, agreeing to give two weeks notice for proposed field trips, to write a final report, and keep a time list for their volunteer log. Here we assess the route from Camp May Saddle over the next hill (I call Cerro Bonito) and down to rincón Bonito, aka Cañada Bonito. Conclusions: In summary, a route here is quite feasible and could function as a loop around the knoll that I call Cerro Bonito in connection with the current ski road. The Camp May saddle has fine views to the east and of the ski area, with fair views of the Valle Grande and the southeast rim from near the top of the saddle. There are no views from the north flank of the cerro; however, the forest is pleasant with surprisingly little deadfall and makes a nice walk. The flank is not too steep and a suitable trail could easily be constructed with a few wide switchbacks. Trip Report: Introduction: The Tschicoma Formation forms the bulk of the east side of the Valles Caldera, including, Pajarito Mountain and Cerro Bonito Knoll. Both are rounded lumps with steep sides, heavily wooded on the north. Camp May Saddle is a typical Jemez grassland being invaded with some aspen groves and spruce. Access is by paved road to the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area where ample parking is available except during its season when the ski area is open three days a week plus holidays. A dirt road continues up the draw to a county recreation area called Camp May with picnic tables and limited car camping by permit. A fire road leads to the saddle. There is a fence at the rim. It divides the ski area owned by the Pajarito Mountain Ski Club, Camp May owned by the U.S. Forest Service on lease to Los Alamos County, and the Valles Caldera National Preserve which owns all the area west of the rim. Description: Camp May saddle is a long, narrow ridge extending between Pajarito Mountain and Cerro Bonito. The saddle has a good stand of large bunch grasses typical of the south-facing slopes of the Jemez, primarily Thurber fescue and Parry oatgrass. The caldera (west) side of the saddle is densely forested, blocking any view directly into the caldera; the forest effectively forms a wall just below the crown of the ridge. Aspen and spruce are invading parts of the saddle. The east side of the ridge is open with a fine view of the ski slopes and east across the Rio Grande Valley to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The views improve higher on the mountainside; the southeast side of the rim is in view around to Rabbit Mountain.

View east across the Rio Grande Valley. Fire Road in foreground.

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Looking up toward the summit of Cerro Bonito.

East Rim

Ski slopes from Camp May Saddle.

The summit of Cerro Bonito is heavily wooded.

A glimpse of Valle Grande from Camp May Saddle. A few decades ago, the view was better before invasion of the forest.

The forest on the north slope of Cerro Bonito is surprisingly open with little deadfall. It became more congested near the bottom of the slope.

The summit of Cerro Bonito is heavily wooded. We did not go to the summit because of deep snow drifts. We skirted the west side searching for the north ridge. The map showed it to be quite broad and only incrementally less steep than the rest of the north slope. There were no views with which to orient ourselves so we used compasses to head due north while skirting areas that were obviously steeper. The snow was spotty near the top but became more continuous as we descended. In places we could not avoid deep drifts and at times were stove-piping up to our thighs. Though we could not see the ground surface, it appeared that there was not much deadfall. The forest was pleasant; the lower limbs died due to lack of sunlight so we could see through the trunks a fair distance. We could easily see where the slope became steeper. There were a number of aspens that were quite large, but no groves. It appeared that the area had not experienced a fire in some time.

As we descended, the ridge became narrower and more discernible. We caught rare glimpses of Tschicoma (Chicoma or Tsikumu) Mountain so were more comfortable with our orientation. (We needed to avoid a similar ridge directly into the caldera.) We came to an open area with much downfall, which we circled on the east side. It soon appeared that the ridge turned to the east although the map showed it continuing north; it became steeper. We followed the apparent ridge until we came to the fence, which was intact and in good repair. A firebreak had been bulldozed on the Forest Service side during the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000. We crossed the fence but the footing was difficult in the firebreak and there were still large patches of snow. I had hope that we would encounter the fence in the Canada Bonita grassland, but we were probably a quarter mile above it. 2

East Rim

Tschicoma Mountain: our best view on the descent.

rincón Bonito grassland with boundary fence and Forest Trail 282

We veered east down to Forest Trail 282. The ski trails were too snowy for the return so we walked down to the Cañada Bonito road and out to the ski hill parking lot. We both felt the slope was a more pleasant walk and would make a nice loop route.

I need to go back up Cerro Bonito to the caldera rim line to see if there are any good viewpoints. Informant: Dorothy Hoard. Time - 8:30 to 6:00.

Red = rim, purple = Camp May Road, dark green = Forest Trail 282, bright green = our route.

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